Slide
by Her Sweetness
Summary: Malik is a spastic teen who happens to be in love with his yami. His only problem is finding out how Marik feels. Ryou's trying to help but could he be harboring secrets of his own? And Bakura's just everywhere... [MM,MR,MB,RB]
1. First Snow of the Season

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Her Sweetness: Alright, no, this is not a one-shot. Yes, A Tale of Two Idiots is still being continued. And _no_, I am not currently motivated to write for it at this particular second! So please enjoy this fic. -smile-

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Slide

Chapter One

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The fact that my name is Malik Ishtar has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

The first snow of the season. It's times like these that I despise my Egyptian heritage. Egypt was so warm and here, in the city of Domino, the winters are frigid. Still, everyone seems to be accustomed. Of course, I wouldn't notice the cold so much if I had enough sense to get myself back to my house and my warm fireplace. Out here in the park where the snow is free to harass me, I am shivering.

I heard somewhere before that if you move around you'll be warmer than if you just stand in one place. But I was told to wait here and I have no where else to go. I suppose I could walk around the bench standing next to me, just go round and round but there is a man sitting there and I don't know how he would react to that. I am afraid of being shot as of late.

Ryou tells me I'm silly.

As I stood in the same place, occasionally shifting the weight of my body from one foot to the other, children run around freely. I don't know why I should be afraid of walking in circles around a man and they can catapult snowballs at random strangers. It is probably because they are cute, blushing little girls and I am a seventeen-year-old Egyptian boy. There _is_ a difference, unfortunately.

The snow continues to fall and damn myself for not having brought a hat along with me. In the fifteen minutes before sunset, my golden hair is glowing under the red-pink sky. Suddenly it worries me about the children.

They shouldn't be out so late… where are their mothers?

I looked to the side of me and out of the corner of my eye the man sitting on the bench is beginning to look unappetizing. He seems as if he's just sitting here, watching the little girls play. That can't be good. And there's no one else out here besides me. I wonder. If he starts to kidnap one of them, would I do anything?

Besides run away, I mean. Sometimes I worry about myself as a man. Would I have any courage if one of these darling little ones was whisked away by a man who looks like an aged hobo? Would I?

I would probably wait for Ryou and after assessing the situation, he would do the right thing and in his mind he would be wondering if I am seriously retarded. I cannot make decisions on my own. But he knows that and he doesn't judge me for it. He is so sweet to me that sometimes I think I will burst. How can one person be that perfect?

Suddenly the man on the bench shifts under his large, tattered winter coat. He makes a noise and finally belches loudly. I shift my weight to my left foot and turn away, afraid of fumes.

That is so disgusting. I understand the fact that I'm a complete stranger but he could say excuse me. My thoughts turn back to the girls. If I turn on the news tomorrow morning and see that one of them has been kidnapped I'll know it was him. Whether I go to the police with my knowledge or not, I will still be completely disgusted and remorseful.

I heard crunches in the snow and they're too heavy for it to be one of the girls. It turn around and see Ryou coming up from down the hill, waving his hand at me. He is not dressed nearly as heavily as I am. He is not Egyptian. So lucky.

"Malik," he said and smiled when he reached me. "I was worried you might not be here, sorry I took so long. Bakura had hidden the remote from me this morning and today, when he wanted to watch television, he'd forgotten where he'd hidden it. It was a real fiasco."

I laughed and nodded my understanding. Ryou and I have a lot of the same problems. It's because we have an very large identical problem—the source of all our trials and tribulations.

Ryou turned and started to walk away, expecting me to follow him. "Well, come on then," he said.

"Um, wait, Ryou," I said and he turned back to me. I walked the few steps towards him and leant in, whispering, "I don't think it's a good idea to go yet."

He blinked. "Why not?"

This time I blinked and dusted the snow out of my hair. I jerked my finger back, trying to be inconspicuous at my pointing towards the man on the bench. Then I motioned toward the still-joyous little girls a few yards away. I said, "I think he's going to kidnap them when we leave. No… I know he is."

It was quiet for a moment. Ryou looked at me then peeked over my shoulder to see the man. Finally, he said, "Why do you think that, Malik?"

"I'm not sure. But look, doesn't he seem the type?"

Ryou peeked over my shoulder again. "Well…"

"I'll feel bad, Ryou," I insisted. "I'll feel bad if I see that a little girl is kidnapped here tomorrow on the news. It'll be all my fault."

"No, Malik, it…" he stopped. "Okay then. What if we wait here until he leaves?"

"That would be good." I smiled at him and he smiled back. He's so tolerant of me, I could burst. We whispered among each other for another moment after that, conspirators against the would-be kidnapper. Ryou said he wouldn't stand here all night until he moved so we sat down on the bench with him. It made me uncomfortable but Ryou assured me that I would not be shot.

The man didn't seem to mind that I was sitting next to him but I sure did. He smelled. Much worse than even my dirtiest sock. And I didn't know it back when I was standing next to the bench but he farted continuously. It was almost toxic and Ryou and I felt faint. Still, we had to stay there to protect the girls.

But it was hard. The smell of his gas was bad but to add to it, we were on a very small bench and he was practically heaving when he breathed. His breath was far past halitosis. It was then that I was certain that he was a homeless person. People with jobs and houses aren't this nasty. In order to keep up with society and be accepted in the modern world, you must have some sort of interest in personal hygiene.

This man lived here in the park and the bench was his home and the little girls were the lawn gnomes on his front yard. I was almost certain he wouldn't hurt them now. I was going to tell Ryou my findings but at that moment, the girls all stopped in their tracks. Their ears seemed to perk up like dogs listening to a silent whistle. Suddenly they all laughed and dispersed. Obviously there was a mother somewhere who'd called them all into their nice warm house for dinner.

I shivered and remembered how cold I really was then. When the girls were gone, Ryou stood up, probably so glad to be free of this horrible farting man. I stood with him and we looked back at the man to see that he was asleep.

"That was terrible," Ryou said, somewhat out of breath. Had he been holding his breath throughout the entire thing?

We walked off, our snow boots crunching the powder beneath us. "Thanks for waiting with me," I said to Ryou. He looked at me and I continued, "I really would have felt awful if one of those girls were kidnapped, you know."

"I know."

By the time the girls had gone, it was already night. The sun had set and the stars rose after it, each point of light gleaming over our heads. The lanterns in the park turned on in response to the darkness and we were surrounded by tiny lights down by our feet.

Suddenly, a light came on inside my head.

I stopped and shouted, "Oh no! Ryou, I'm so sorry! The movie, we were supposed to see a movie tonight!"

Ryou's eyes were wide at my yelling but on spur of the moment realizations like that, I can't contain it.

He tried to calm me down. "No, no, it's okay. Really, Malik, we can see a movie anytime and besides—"

"But you _said_…" I trailed off. I could feel a swelling behind my eyes and soon my vision would become blurry. I didn't want to cry in front of Ryou. I'm always crying but I don't want to seem like such a girlish fool in front of my best friend. I shook my head and suddenly felt a hand clasp my shoulder.

Chocolate orbs were staring into my own lavender eyes. "Come on, it's not a big deal. We can go tomorrow if you want. You know neither of us has anything to do."

I coughed out a little chuckle. "But what about Bakura?"

Ryou thought for a moment. "Oh… you're right. Well he can come along, too. Hey! We'll bring Marik along as well!" He lowered one of his eyebrows. "It can be a double date."

"But…" I blushed a little. Luckily, I'm sure it went unnoticed because of how cold my face was. But no, Ryou noticed it. Ryou notices everything. "You're not dating Bakura," I said, "and I'm not dating Marik."

"Who cares about technicalities?"

"Marik doesn't like me that way, Ryou," my voice lowered.

Ryou pouted. "You don't know that. That's just your negative way of thinking, that's what it is. You've never even asked."

"But—"

"_Have _you asked?"

"Well… no, but—"

He laughed aloud and it nearly startled me. He leant in and kissed my cheek, warming up the soon-to-be frostbitten side of my face. As he pulled away, he said, "You're so cute, Malik. Why you don't get everything you want is a mystery to me."

Our walk home was peaceful. The snow continued to fall and that person who once said that moving around was a better way of warming up was right. I did feel better but I also have to give credit to the person that said sharing body heat is a good way of warming up too. Ryou's hand clasping mine felt nice. As we continued down the streets, we were free to talk loudly about whatever we wanted. Eastern Domino is filled to the brim with upper middleclass families with young children and for that reason, there's hardly any activity at night.

Ryou and I live very close to each other. That's how we met actually. When we first settled down in Domino—Marik and I—Marik would go out every day to cause trouble and he often ran into Bakura who was on similar errands. They couldn't stand each other at first; it was havoc all over the city whenever they went out to fight. But one night, as fate would have it, they bumped into each other on a phone-sex chat line. Neither recognized the other at first but after a few continuous nights of moaning and squirting noises, they exchanged names.

You can imagine their surprise when they find out that their archenemy was the one they'd been having telephone-intercourse with. When I first heard about it I thought it was the beginning of the end for Domino and that all hell would break loose but instead it ended the war, at least for the most part. They don't have phone-sex anymore—at least not to the best of my knowledge—but they do hang out quite often. Bakura began to come over to my house to hang out with Marik everyday and Ryou sometimes came with him, just to monitor.

Usually when those two hung out, I got the feeling I was unwanted and retreated to my room. But when I saw how bored Ryou seemed, I invited him up and since then, we've been rather inseparable. Funny how things work out sometimes. Now we're two sets of best friends and I wouldn't trade Ryou for the _world_… but I do wish Marik and I were closer…

We arrived at my house and I could see the smoke rising from the chimney. Good. I almost raced inside to get at that fire and I could hear Ryou laughing behind me. After unlocking the door, I put the key back into my pocket and we came in, taking our coats off and leaving them in a pile on the floor. Off came our shoes and when we looked up, Marik and Bakura were sitting on the couch watching the blue glow from the television.

Immediately Ryou went into overprotective mother-mode with Bakura. He walked in front of the TV and both our yamis shouted at him to "move your ass".

Ryou frowned. "Bakura, if you sit too close to the television, you'll hurt your _eyes_."

"Hey, is it my fault Malik set the couch here?"

My eye twitched at that comment but I refused to acknowledge it.

"You moved it," Ryou said firmly and Bakura folded his arms over his chest. I continued to warm myself in front of the fireplace and without even looking I knew Marik was enjoying listening to Ryou and Bakura. He told me once that they should have their own sitcom. I don't think Bakura would like people with cameras running around after him but then again, Marik knows him better than I do.

"Ryou, I'm trying to watch TV."

"We have to go home anyway," Ryou said and I tilted my head to see him. He winked at me and waved as he moved closer to the door.

Bakura's brown eyes were wide. "Why do we have to leave?" he shouted.

"Bakura, lower your voice. And don't be silly, you know it's your turn to clean the bathroom."

"But—"

"Good-bye, Malik," Ryou said cheerfully and I nodded. He turned to my look-alike sitting on the couch. "'Bye, Marik."

Marik grunted and I suppose that was code for "See ya later."

Bakura was eventually coaxed out of our house and they left for a few houses down, their own two-story wonderland with an apparently dirty bathroom. After they were gone, Marik and I were left in the living room by ourselves. I stayed quiet in front of the fireplace all the time kicking myself. Why am I such a mute?

Some more silence followed and I jumped into the river without a paddle.

"D-Do you want to go to the movies with me and Ryou tomorrow? Um, Bakura's coming too… I think…"

When I didn't hear anything for a few seconds, I turned around and saw that I was the only one in the room. Wondering where he'd gone, I heard a call from upstairs: "Malik, we're out of toilet paper!"

I sighed.

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To be continued…

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Her Sweetness: Review, please! 


	2. The Paper Fan

Her Sweetness: Thanks for all the super reviews, you guys! And for your efforts, here's another chapter.

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Slide

Chapter Two

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The fact that I'm in love with Marik Ishtar has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

Morning rays shone in through the kitchen windows. It snowed all night last night and it distracted me from sleeping. Although I'm not a fan of being out in the snow, I love how beautiful it is. I stayed up and watched it out of the window right above my bed. Marik's room is right next to mine and I wondered if he was watching it too. But right off, I knew that was stupid. Marik is no more interested in snow than Oprah is in losing weight.

But this morning when I woke up, I came downstairs and found him in his night pants rummaging in the fridge. I saw that he wasn't wearing a shirt and his large flannel pants were pulled down, revealing one dark-skinned hipbone. I jerked back and hid in the shadows of the hallway. I sometimes have a hard time grasping that this is my house, too. I often feel the need to let him have his own space. Still he's so freaking hot.

Well I waited in the living room until he was done and during my waiting, my cell phone rang. I was surprised I could her the little jingle from all the way in my room but found that I had left it on the coffee table last night. I picked it up and, without looking, knew who it was. Not many people know my cell number.

"Hi, Ryou," I said quietly, holding the phone tightly to my ear.

"Good morning. Malik… why are you whispering?"

I looked behind me and still heard Marik in the kitchen. "No reason."

"Well anyway. So did you ask Marik yet?"

I puffed out my cheeks. "Ryou, I'm not going to ask him. I told you, he doesn't like me that way… You're only making it worse by reminding me daily, you know."

"First of all, Malik, you have low self-esteem. We have to work on that. Second of all, I wasn't talking about asking him _that_, I meant if you asked him did he want to go to the movies with us. You do want to go today, don't you?"

"Oh. Well, I—"

An exasperated sigh came through the line. "You didn't ask, did you?"

"As a matter of fact, I did ask!" I hurriedly lowered my voice when I heard Marik's footsteps on the carpet and turned to see him with his head in the door. He raised an eyebrow at me and asked, "Are you talking to yourself?"

I could feel a blush of guilt blossom on my face. I held up my cell phone meekly. "No," I said.

He shrugged and walked away. I heaved out a long breath and wiped sweat away from my forehead. It's so exhausting! He takes away all my energy when he says something to me. It's no wonder that we barely speak to each other. And during this time of recuperation, I heard little shouts from the receiver. I put the phone back to my ear. "What did you say, Ryou?"

"Was that Marik? Were you talking to him?" He sounded excited. Poor Ryou. He really does disserve a better best friend. One with some sort of spine.

"Um, yeah," I sighed and scratched my head. "Anyway, I did ask him last night but he wasn't in the room."

Silence on the other end.

"He wasn't in the room… when you asked him…?"

"No."

More silence. Ryou cleared his throat and said, "Well ask him when he's in the room then. He's there now, right?"

"He's in the kitchen."

"Go then! Go ask him!"

I whined, "But what if he says no, Ryou?"

"And what if little pig-demons colonize your belly button? I hate to be crude but you can't think of the What Ifs all the time, Malik. Go in there and ask him, nothing bad will happen. As a last resort, you can tell him Bakura is coming."

"You mean Bakura said yes?"

"He will," Ryou said and I could practically see that cute little devil smirk on his face. He only uses that when Bakura is involved. Ryou's voice softened, "Go on and ask him, Malik."

I cringed. "Alright."

"And take the phone in with you so I can hear."

"_Ryou_!"

"Oh, Malik don't moan like that. Please? I'll be quiet. And if you have any trouble, I'll be right there."

After hearing that, I softened to the idea and said okay. Probably more than anybody, Ryou knows how much of a burden it is for me to speak to Marik, it's nearly impossible. I get all hot and rush to get my paper fan. But once I come back, Marik's gone. This time I will not get my paper fan.

I got off the couch and strutted into the kitchen. Well, actually, it was more like I tiptoed into the kitchen but it was pretty much the same thing in my case. When I entered, Marik was sitting on the counter by the toaster, probably waiting for his Poptarts to come up. He looked at me and said, "Hey."

Paper fan, paper fan, paper fan.

"Hi," I said and oh Gods, I said a word! But in the seconds after 'hi' I continued to stand there with a blank look on my face. Marik blinked at me and I could hear a tiny voice saying, _Ask him, ask him._

"Um, so Marik… did you… do you…"

"What?"

_Say it. 'Do you want to go to the movies?' Just like that. _

I closed my eyes which I know made me look like a retard but it was the only way I could say it. I soon heard a voice much like my own that said, "Did you want to go to the movies today? With me and Ryou. And Bakura."

_Yaay! Woo-hoo! You did it!_

"Shh," I said, "I still have to wait for the answer."

Marik stopped and looked at me wide-eyed. Oh no. Now he must really think I'm insane! I held the phone tightly in my hand and it was hidden. We were in silence for a few seconds until the Poptarts came up, saving me. Marik took them out and got off the counter, walking towards me and then standing at my side.

Paper fan, paper fan, paper fan.

"Sure, I'll go," he said and my whole body was filling to the brim with relief. But then he added, "And Malik… you _really_ ought to find a name for whatever it is you've got."

He walked away and I was left with my jaw unhinged and making squeaky noises. I lifted the phone back to my ear and dry-sobbed, "_Ryou_…"

"Oh, now Malik, don't worry!" He hurried to say anything that would keep me from gushing tears on the phone. "He was just playing with you! Bakura does that to me all the time but do I listen? No way!"

"Bakura _likes_ you!" I wailed, "Marik hates me and he thinks I belong in an institution!"

We went back and forth for a while and Ryou managed to calm me down, at least a little bit. We rang off with plans to meet at the Central Plaza in two hours. I, of course, had to object because that meant that Marik and I would have to walk together. I asked if he and Bakura could just come over to our house and pick us up. It made more sense anyway—they have a car and we don't.

But there was no arguing with Ryou and I sighed as I placed my cell phone back on my computer desk.

Fast foreword to a little later in the day. It was about ten passed noon and I was thinking that maybe Marik and I should head out for two reasons. One, it took about fifteen to twenty minutes to walk to Central Domino from our house and, two, I wanted to get out before it started to snow too heavily.

So I came out of my CD and poster-filled room—I swear on all that is holy, my room is like that of a teenage girl's—and weedled around the house to find Marik. He wasn't downstairs and so I knocked on the door to his room. I didn't knock all that hard but the door opened anyway, about two inches from the jamb. Not hearing anything, I nudged it with my fingers and poked my head inside.

Marik was sitting on his bed with a towel held up to dry his hair. The rest of him, however, was completely nude.

He looked up at me, lavender eyes glinting in annoyance. "Can't you knock?"

PAPER FAN.

I felt myself begin to hyperventilate and slammed the door shut as fast as I could. I tried to contain my spastic breathing as I shouted, "I'm so sorry! I-I didn't know you were—I mean I just wanted to tell you—Ah!"

Once again I was caught off-guard as the door opened despite my grip on the handle. Marik opened the door casually and I turned around trying to avert my eyes. Everything bad _always_ happens to me. Always.

He tilted his head. "What the hell's your problem? It's not like I'm a sixty-five-year-old nun, Malik; we _do_ have the same equipment. At least to the best of my knowledge."

I think he added the last part to be funny but I wasn't in a real ha-ha mood. I continued to stand there with my eyes darkened and focused on the carpet. I understand the fact that I am Egyptian and have a rather dark skin color but then I think I was cherry red, the way Ryou gets if you tickle him too much. I took in a shaky breath and mumbled, "I just wanted to tell you that I think we should get going."

"I know that," Marik said. "Why do you think I hurried up to take my shower? Before you came waltzing in, I was going to get dressed."

"Oh… okay then, I'll be downstairs."

There was a moment that I was so tempted to casually glance up to take another look but the shame that I felt filled me up too much for lust to take over. I walked down the hall and tried not to imagine what he must be thinking when I heard his door shut. I didn't hear the lock click, however. My lock _always_ clicks.

Marik came down in about two minutes. Dressed in a tight black sweater with one thick gray stripe across the chest and a pair of dark blue pants, he looked so handsome and I was very relieved. Somewhat envious though. He's built so much better than me.

We didn't say anything to each other as we put our coats on. I was too nervous and he was probably thinking about something else—someone else. Probably Bakura. It has never been talked about—and maybe I should bring it up with Ryou—but sometimes it crosses my mind, Marik and Bakura. They're close but unlike Ryou and I, they don't openly hold hands or exchange small kisses on the cheek. They don't even say goodbye or hello to each other. That being said, I know it's crazy to think but I get the feeling they're in a relationship deeper than just friends.

Though it's probably the work of my over active imagination. That's what Ryou always tells me and it has been my experience that Ryou is always right. As Marik and I walked down the snow covered sidewalks out in the fresh air, I looked up at him from time to time and realized that even when he's thinking his eyes don't change. They don't darken the way mine do when I'm upset and they don't brighten the way Ryou's eyes do when he laughs.

That's something only a truly obsessive fan-boy would notice.

Unfortunately for me, lost in my exploration of his features, I failed to look down and when I snapped out of it, I was starring into dark lavender eyes.

"Do I have something on my face?" Marik asked. We had stopped walking.

I shook my head. "No. Um. I was… looking at h-h-h…" Oh this is ridiculous. There's no explanation that wouldn't make me look like an idiot. I cleared my voice and started again in spite of myself. "I was just noticing how nice your bangs look today."

Marik blinked at me as he had been doing lately. His eyes shifted and he reached up, twirling a lock of blond hair around his finger. "Thanks, I guess. Your bangs look good today too."

I was floating.

He's never said that before! I need to take a picture of my bangs now and set them up like that everyday. If only I had my camera. I suppose I'll have to just do it from memory.

I blinked and looked up to see Marik walking away. I ran to catch up with him and was in higher spirits than when we left the house.

We walked to the Central Plaza in relative peace. Ryou and Bakura were standing next to one of the large light posts by the water fountain, Bakura leaning on it and Ryou laughing at something. I could see his breath and suddenly he turned around and waved to me. Bakura looked at Marik but said nothing and when we were joined again, Marik and Bakura were at each other's side.

Ryou smiled at me. "Hey there! Hi, Marik," he said and Marik grunted again. There's obviously some kind of mystic language between them. Ryou turned back to me. "Bakura and I were talking about what movie we should go see. He said anything rated R. What do you think?"

"Oh… Um. Rated R's fine. I guess."

Marik rolled his eyes at Bakura suddenly. "Don't you have any sort of preference?"

"Yeah. Blood. And lots of it. I swear to Ra, Ryou, if we're going to see another one of your fag movies, I'll heave."

"Oh shush, you know you like them," Ryou teased and Bakura turned faintly red. He ignored Bakura when he grumbled curses at him and tapped his chin for a second before saying, "Why don't we go see _The Descent_? It's supposed to be really scary. And there's blood."

Well Bakura looked satisfied but I really wasn't. I can't stand scary movies. They scare me. I understand this is the point, more or less, but still. Every time something jumps out or someone gets slashed, I yelp and I'm always the only one. When we started for the theater about fifty feet away, I was walking beside Ryou and whispered to him, "Ryou… _The Descent_? You know I can't take those kinds of movies."

I didn't want to remind him of what happened when we watched _Saw_ at his house. I felt really bad about his sheets.

He smiled. "Don't worry."

"Don't worry? But I—"

Ryou laughed again and took my hand and leant his cheek on my shoulder as we walked. I quieted down then and behind me, I could hear Bakura say, "Sissies." Once again, I ignored him. He gets on my nerves a lot.

We reached the cinema and Ryou bought four adult tickets for _The Descent_. It's rated R and none of us are eighteen yet but luckily we all have fake IDs provided for us by Marik. He and Bakura got these a while back from some guy name Paco who makes them in his garage. I didn't really approve and neither did Ryou but once Ryou found out we could get into night clubs with them, he gave Bakura all the praise in the world. That was before I told Ryou I had a crush on Marik and he used to try and get me out to clubs so I could meet someone.

He's so concerned with me most of the time that I wonder when he worries about himself. He's just as single as I am. I wish I could be helpful and try and get him fixed up. Though Ryou doesn't really show any interest in anyone except me, Bakura and Marik. Maybe it's better that way. After all, no one can love him like we can.

… Well. Like _I_ can.

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To be continued...

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Her Sweetness: Review, please!


	3. Just Like The Movies

Her Sweetness: Ooh baby. I just got done running in my first Cross Country meet. Man, I feel really pumped! And since I am so pumped, I decided you all disserve another chapter. Enjoy.

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Slide

Chapter Three

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The fact that I'm a well-known pessimist has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

The whole thing was horrible. _The Descent_, the seating arrangements, the incident with the popcorn—_everything_. I'd blame Ryou's judgment but most of the things that happened had in fact been my fault. If I wasn't such a spaz, it wouldn't have been so bad. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll start from when we first walked into the theater.

The previews had already started and we were walking in a line. Actually it wasn't very crowded and so we were able to sit where we wanted and ended up in really good seats. We'd already gone to get snacks and I really thought Marik had gotten too much. He got the extra large tub of popcorn, four large Pepsis, lots of assorted candies and these sour candies called Sour Bombs. Marik doesn't even like sour things.

We were about to sit down and Ryou grabbed Bakura's arm and sat him on the end, much to his chagrin. He either wanted to be next to the popcorn or Marik which were both right next to me. Ryou smiled at me and I sighed but it went unnoticed, as it often does. Marik handed me the Sour Bombs and told me to pass them to Bakura. I did and, in a few minutes, found out why they were purchased. Bakura put one in his mouth, got it all wet and nasty and then spit it out, landing it into someone's hair!

I gasped and Marik laughed to which he got a lot of nasty looks as the movie had already begun. Ryou quietly reprimanded Bakura but he didn't pay my friend any mind and continued to launch the things onto random people. Although no one really noticed, I thought it was a terrible thing to do and shuddered to think about what would happen when the people left the theater and were laughed at when others pointed out their misfortune.

I sympathize with them because that could've very well been happening to me at that very second. I felt around in my hair and found nothing.

Marik leaned over and nudged me. "Want to try?" he asked, holding one to me.

Blushing, I took it and looked from him to the Sour Bomb and then to Ryou who was too busy with Bakura to notice me. I nodded. "Alright," I said timidly and put it in my mouth.

The thing was terrible! So nasty! I cringed and could hear Marik chuckle at my side. Out of the one eye that was open I saw him grinning. A few more seconds of juicing it up and then I fired. Blindly.

"Ow! My eye!" someone yelled. I looked up and saw a man who had been walking to his seat in front of us. He had both hands up to his eye and was shouting obscenities. He'd dropped his soda.

My hands flew up to my mouth. "I-I'm so sorry…" I whispered but I doubt he heard over Marik and Bakura's roaring laughter. Ryou looked at me, shocked. I dry-sobbed, "Ryou…"

He sighed and put his hand on my back, rubbing soothing circles as I told him I didn't mean to do it. Everyone in the theater must've hated us so much—we were so loud. But Marik and Bakura didn't seem to care that they were receiving death glares. Marik quieted down before Bakura did and he was still grinning when he put a hand on my shoulder and whispered, "That was freaking amazing! You really nailed him, Malik!"

I managed a smile though it was broken and bewildered.

Bakura agreed. "Do it again!"

Ryou elbowed him and that was his sign to shut up.

Luckily for everyone else in the audience, we were quiet for a while. Except my screams of terror. Those were pretty loud. There were so many terrifying things! When that… that _thing _appeared behind the girl in the camera, I almost died. I yelped and grabbed onto Marik's sleeve. I froze and let go slowly. Marik didn't seem to mind too much though, he was into the movie by then.

Ryou, while still watching the screen, put his hand over mine and I laced our fingers together so that I could squeeze him instead of yelling. Didn't work too well though. I screamed and crushed his hand. Eventually he put my hand on the armrest and told me to grip that.

About three quarters through the film, Ryou fell asleep. It seemed he didn't favor the movie much. Bakura was too excited to notice Ryou's head on his shoulder. I looked over at Marik and he seemed into it as well. I wondered briefly if I could fake sleeping and put my head on his shoulder. But I quickly discarded that idea. If any part of me was going to be touching any part of Marik, I wanted to have my eyes open so I could enjoy it.

So, with my eyes open and my head being held up by only me, I continued to watch the movie with mild interest. Honestly, it was just a bunch of blood and scariness. I didn't like it that much and no matter what I held onto, I was loud in my expression of my fear. Still looking at the screen, I reached over into Marik's lap to get a handful of popcorn. But what I got a handful of was something entirely different and I suddenly heard Marik gasp.

I looked over and screamed, jerking my hand away from where I had been grasping his crotch.

He smirked, tilting his head. "Wow, Malik, I didn't know these kinds of movies got you hot."

"N-No! That's not… that's not it! I… W-Where'd the popcorn go?" I shouted and everyone shushed me. This was terrible. Marik's smirk didn't waver but he shifted his eyes back to the screen and pointed between his feet where the tub of popcorn rested. I didn't want it anymore.

I looked down at my hand and was disappointed. I wondered then if Ryou had ever grabbed anyone's crotch before. If he had, it was never mine. Maybe Bakura's. I would have to ask him that and made a mental note of it.

The movie ended and I left gladly. We left our trash like most people did but Bakura didn't have to kick the popcorn all over the floor and spill the sodas.

"Hey," he said, "they get paid so we gotta make them work for their money. Their job's too easy."

Sometimes Bakura's logic makes me wonder.

No one really felt like going home when we stepped out into the daylight again and so Ryou suggested we go across the street to the café there. It hadn't snowed that day but a good four inches were left over from the night before. We waded through it and when we entered the warm coffee shop the snow from our boots and shoes melted onto the welcome mat inside. It was already wet and I figured the other customers must've done the same thing.

Ryou told Bakura to go up to the counter and order. He said no but then Marik told him to stop being a baby and went up to order it himself. Bakura rolled his eyes and followed. Ryou and I went off to find an empty table and found one in the back corner by the frost-covered window.

"So how did you like that movie?" he said. "I didn't think it was too interesting."

"I noticed. You fell asleep."

He shrugged. "To be honest, I knew it wasn't going to be that good."

"Why'd we go see it, then?" I tried to keep my frustration out of my voice. If _he_ didn't want to go see and _I _didn't want to go see it then _why_ did we go see it?

"Because." Ryou wagged his pointer finger at me as he often does when I'm being stupid. "It was a scary movie. And you're prone to scaring. So having you sit next to Marik was a great way to bring you two closer together."

"W-What in the world makes you think that?"

"I saw it on a movie."

Once again I was amazed at Ryou but this time for a completely different reason. This is _Ryou_. He should know better! I managed to choke out, "_Movie_?"

He sighed. "Well I thought maybe it'd work. You make me so desperate sometimes, Malik. It would be so much easier if you just _told_ Marik how you feel. Just say it. Can you say it for me?"

"Oh, Ryou."

"Come on," he persisted. "Pretend I'm Marik, alright? And you're Malik."

I blinked.

"Please?" Ryou asked, scooting his chair closer to me. "Malik?" He gave me his big eyes. Oh man.

"Alright," I said finally. I paused and looked at him shrewdly. "I love you."

"Oh my."

Both Ryou and I looked up to see Marik and Bakura grinning down at us, each of them with two drinks in their hands. Bakura was chuckling as he gave Ryou his coffee and sat his own in front of him. "Finally, a confession. You know, I've been waiting for this. You two going to go steady now?" he asked Ryou.

I growled at him but it went unnoticed as Marik sat my mocha latté down in front of me. I shook my head at them. "It's not like that."

Marik nodded and then looked across the table at Ryou. "Hey, did Malik here tell you about his new hobby?"

Ryou tilted his head. "No, he didn't."

I gasped. "Wait a second—"

"Before we left to meet up with you guys, he came into my room to peep while I wasn't dressed."

"That's not how it was at all!" I shouted but no one paid attention and Ryou looked like he couldn't get much happier. He was giggling madly and then squeezed my hand under the table. Bakura was in hysterics and, once again, we received death glares from other people for our noisiness.

Marik turned his attention back to miserable me. "You don't have to be embarrassed about it. You're just one of millions. You should see Bakura drooling when we shower together."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "You wish."

… Excuse me? What? S-_Showering_ together? I suddenly felt dizzy. All these disturbing and somewhat mouth-watering images were assaulting my mind, coming at me from every direction. My eyes must've been dinner plates because everyone looked at me. My face was hot and I think it was visual because Bakura began to smirk at me.

"Eh heh. Hey, Malik's thinking of things he shouldn't."

Ryou elbowed Bakura in the ribs and caused him to fall out of his chair. Marik was too busy laughing to notice my almost dead aura. I probably looked like a sad clown. Ryou looked at me with those same eyes you'd give a burn victim.

"We have to go to the bathroom," Ryou said suddenly and took me by the hand.

Marik blinked. "Are you his bladder? What the hell?"

Ryou gave him a soft glare and we went to the back of the restaurant and into the men's room. It was a small, dingy room with only one toilet but that didn't seem to matter because neither of us really had to go.

I looked at Ryou carefully. "They take showers together?"

"Well yes but—"

"How come you didn't tell me, Ryou?"

"Because I knew you'd freak out about it. It's really no big deal, they don't do anything."

"No big deal?" I squeaked. "_You and I _don't even take showers together! It's no wonder they don't say hi or bye to each other, they do all their greetings in the buff! In hot _water_! It's a very big deal, Ryou! … And hey, just how did you know this? Where do they take their showers, at your house?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes, but I know for a fact that they do at _your_ house too."

"They must do it while I'm asleep 'cause I don't remember—Oh my Ra!"

"What now?"

"They do it while I'm asleep!" I clasped my hands together in front of my mouth, my eyes bulging. "They take showers, in hot water, at _night_!"

"Malik!" Ryou snapped and grabbed my hands, pulling them down. He looked into my eyes and shook me by the shoulders which I'm not really used to him doing. "They only do it to get _clean_! That, and it saves water!"

"Since when do our yamis care about leaving water for the fishes?" I muttered and received a frown for it.

His voice softened. "If it makes you feel any better, _we_ can take a shower together."

There was a pause. I looked away, towards the bathroom door and sighed heavily. "Ryou… do you think that Bakura and Marik are… you know…" I blushed. I couldn't say it.

Ryou smiled. "No way. I mean, not directly anyway. And the last time they did that phone thing was like, what, nine months ago? I know because I can see the calls made on the phone bill and no phone-sex lines were called!"

I guess that was supposed to make me feel better but it didn't. I thought again of Marik and Bakura in the shower together and washing each other's backs. I shivered violently. _Unfair_.

Little did I know that I'd said "Unfair," aloud and Ryou hugged me, laughing. "Maybe if you ask, Marik will take a bath with you."

I didn't even dignify that with a reply.

"Aw, c'mon. It's not so hard. I took a bath with Bakura before. It was fun! He washed my back." Ryou winked.

Great. Just _add _to my shame.

* * *

To be continued…

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Her Sweetness: Review please! 


	4. Malik The Hikari

Her Sweetness: Well, here's your next chapter!

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Slide

Chapter Four

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The fact that I mean nothing to Marik has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

The next morning I woke up with an erection. This was just perfect. On top of that, my bed sheets were soaking wet and I have a good guess at why. I'd been sweating all the night through. It was that damn thought of Bakura and Marik that had followed me home from the café and I'd been thinking about it all day and then went to bed with the two of them on my mind.

Bakura is very strange and can sometimes pass for plain stupid but if there's one thing he's got, it's looks. He knocks most guys in the Play Girl magazines into the stratosphere. So him combined with someone who I consider a sex God, add some hot water, throw in some nudity and a dash of moaning and you've got a wet dream. Basic arithmetic right there. I'm sure Ryou would agree with me. He's told me on a number of occasions that he commended my choice in men. His exact words were "I sure wouldn't mind your yami on top of me." After that I was blushing so hard, I looked like a stop sign.

So after I took care of myself, I stripped my bed and was tripping down the hallway, groping around for the stairs with my arms full of sweat-stained sheets. I found the stairs but on accident and just when I thought I could regain my balance, I didn't and all the covers fell in a big ball down the stairs.

I heard "Oh my—Ah!" and then inwardly groaned.

"Are you alright?" I called down and when I heard no answer, I shuffled down the stairs and saw the covers on top of Marik who was clearly disoriented. I dug him out and he stood on his own.

"I'm sorry," I said, looking down at the mess. I hope he didn't notice they were wet…

Marik cracked his neck. "This is how we're gonna start the day, huh?"

"Um… I was just…"

He looked at me like I wasn't making sense. I never do. His gaze shifted downwards and he looked at my bedspreads at his feet. Finally, he said, "Laundry day, already. Alright then, I'll be back with my stuff."

He went upstairs and I watched him go. It really wasn't laundry day but I guess today was as good as any. I decided to go get the rest of my dirty clothes as well. It's times like these that I realize Ryou and I do shop too much. My wardrobe isn't even fazed after two weeks or wearing different outfits. _That's_ how many clothes I have.

We were both downstairs at the same time and we put our clothes in different bags; mine in a purple one and his in black. We put our coats on and then went out into the cold. The reason we don't stay inside and do laundry in our washer is because it's busted and has been for some time. Ever since Ryou and I went to the fair one day and came back to see that a screwdriver had been inserted into some of the washer's workings. Bakura and Marik blamed each other and I've just let it go.

It was snowing but lightly. My teeth were chattering a little… damn myself for forgetting my hat. Snow was forming like a cloud on Marik's head too but, like usual, he was elsewhere, up in his own head. It sure must be interesting up there.

We continued down the street, our laundry bags in our arms, and I noticed that there were more people on the street than I thought would be. It was probably later than I'd thought, too. I'm already prone to sleeping in and that dream did keep me very busy. I thought about my favorite parts of it again and probably had a goofy grin on my face which I think Marik ignored.

I hope he'll never know how much of a pervert I really am.

The Laundromat we go to isn't very far and we reached it easily despite the snow. On a weekday there are never very many people. But then again, there are never very many people whenever we go; Marik scares them all away. It's probably unintended but they recognize him as the man who growls at little children and robs the elderly so they like to steer clear. And as embarrassed as I should be about it, being with Marik does have its perks. For instance, we never have to wait for a free dryer. That's good, right?

Marik sat his bag down by the nearest washing machine; the door on the contraption was open and waiting to be filled. I suppose Marik expected me to fill it. I sighed and began to throw his clothes in. The darks, that is. I separate the darks from the lights. There's nothing worse than a pair of nice white boxers one day and then have them tie-dyed the next week.

But it's not so bad. This is always my chance to go through Marik's clothes without seeming like a complete pervert. I picked up his jeans and threw them inside without interest. He has so many ketchup stains on his shirts… I don't know where he gets it from, I never buy ketchup when I go to the store. He must be eating it with Bakura.

Again, jealousy surged through me. Just once, why can't my yami eat ketchup with _me_? Why? What's wrong with me?

"Eh heh heh. Jackpot." I heard Marik talking but there was no one else there so I looked back. He was holding up a fifty dollar bill on the other side of the room where one of the dryers' doors were open.

"Where'd you get that?" I asked before I could control my mouth.

"Found it," he said. "Someone has just treated us to lunch, Malik. Be right back."

Marik headed for the door and I shouted, "Wait!" He looked at me. "Uh, you can't just take that. It belongs to someone."

"Well what do you want me to do, put it in the Lost 'N Found?"

This was a stupid thing for me to say but it was all I could think of: "It might not be… a _bad_ idea…"

He rolled his eyes. "Right, give a fifty to a guy who makes two bucks an hour watching umbrellas all day. Smart."

Sometimes when he's sarcastic like that, it hurts more than when he just ignores me. Don't know why. I lifted and dropped my shoulders, signaling that I didn't care. He left and walked a ways down the street. I didn't really care about the fifty but it was a small attempt to maybe get my way with him. Bakura has about a fifty-fifty change of getting what he wants from Marik and even Ryou can coerce some stuff out of him but I hold no power with Marik whatsoever. Bakura's sexy, Ryou's adorable and what am I? Why, I'm Malik The Hikari. Just as plain and as boring as can be.

I turned and continued to separate the clothes.

By the time Marik came back with a bag of McDonald's, both his clothes and mine were washing. We were using four out of the five washers in the place. I was sitting on one of the benches in the center of the small establishment and he sat beside me, giving me what he knew I liked. He told me there was still around forty dollars left. McDonald's is so cheap. I know I was putting poison into my body that was liable to make me fat and gooey and I could at the very least keep myself fit but in that instant I didn't care.

After all, Marik eats the stuff all the time and he has a perfect body, which I took the liberty of admiring as we sat there eating in silence. The only sounds were our quiet chewing and the methodic romping of our clothes in the machines. I looked at the one right in front of me and hid my small smile behind my hamburger. While Marik was out, I put some of my clothes in with his. It was a small triumph for someone pathetic like me. Unrequited love is quite painful.

A lot of people don't know it because they're too busy with lust and though my feelings for Marik _do _include a fair amount of lust, I love him. I wish I could teach a class at Ryou's High school about love. I'd teach those teeny-boppers a thing or two about the difference between a schoolyard crush and wanting to be with someone. Because, you know, there _is _a difference. A small difference, yes, but it's significant. I thought this as I looked down at Marik's hand a few inches from mine.

Interesting how my fingers twitched at the enticing distance but then reached for the fries at the last moment.

"Know what would be funny?" he said and caught me off guard. I didn't answer. He continued, "If I left five cents in that machine where I found the fifty."

"You should do it," I said just to say something.

He reached into his back pocket, probably fishing around for a nickel, but stopped and then said, looking at me, "Know what would be funnier?"

"Huh?"

"If I kissed you."

I dropped my hamburger and it splattered on the floor. "W… What?" I asked. My eyes were wide.

He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "What's the matter with you?"

"W-What did you just say?" I squealed.

"I said we should it would be even funnier if we left a note. You know, to the person who lost their money. We could tell them that we have their fifty and are holding it for ransom." Marik looked at me shrewdly. He shook his head. "But if you're going to freak out about it, forget I said anything."

There was a pause during which I just looked at him. I could've sworn he said… that… Oh, Ra, I really must be losing it. I sighed and said, "No, wait, I'm sorry. I thought you said something else."

"Like what?"

I blushed. "Like… um, you wanted to—"

One of the dryers finished and that created one of those annoying beeping sounds. But not so annoying for me because it saved me from once again making a complete ass of myself in front of Marik. I hurried off of the bench and stepped over my dropped hamburger. Marik doesn't always the best attention span when it comes to me and the things I say so I was hoping that would kick in then and he would forget what had just happened.

But, as my luck would have it, he followed me over to the dryer where I was getting out the clothes. He leaned on the dryer with his elbows propping him up. He watched me for a second and I tried to ignore those lavender eyes on me.

"So are you going to tell me?" he asked finally, still concentrating on me. Finally, I have his attention, I thought, but why now? He shifted and grinned at me and for a second, he tugged on the sleeve of my shirt. "Come on. Don't make me have to drag it out of you."

I blinked at him. "What do you mean—Agh! Marik!" Suddenly a dense pounding in the center of my head made itself known. My hands flew up from the clothes and I gripped my hair with each hand, too close to pulling out two huge patches of blonde hair. I managed to open one of my eyes and saw Marik smirking at me, not grinning, because he was busy inside his own mind.

He'd tried to do this before, open our mind link again so that we could share thoughts and he could hear what I was thinking. When we first moved into Domino together, right after Battle City, I had the closed tight because I still didn't trust Marik at all. But a few months afterward, I kept it closed just because I didn't want him to see what I thought of him, how I felt. I just wasn't ready for him to know and I'm still not.

"_Stop it!_" I screamed, fighting back against him. I kept backing up and the bench hit the back of my knees and I fell back onto it, crouching until my head was down by my stomach. My nails were scratching against my head so hard that I could feel blood begin to well up in little gashes and then fall down my fingertips. The throbbing kept coming and I could hear Marik whispering in my mind.

Suddenly, it all stopped and I felt to hands around my wrists, pulling me up and off the bench. Through my blurred vision, I could see Marik's lavender eyes starring into mine. He said, "I was just playing, no need to get hysterical. Did it really hurt that much? Jeez, Malik, you were freaking screaming. I thought the cops were going to come in here to see who was raping you."

I looked at him for a moment without saying anything and he regarded me curiously before pulling me closer and soon he was hugging me. I think I lost my breath for a moment. This was all happening so fast…

He held me tightly with his right arm and brought up his other hand to smooth down my hair. "Sorry," he mumbled.

It was nice. Being in Marik's arms was really nice, a sensation I hadn't felt since we first moved in together. I pulled away from him back then and locked myself in my room for a week and so he hasn't touched me like that since. But he finally has and what did I do? I pushed him back.

I was shaking as I looked at him, my vision was still blurred and I realized, after feeling two drops of liquid on my raised hands, that I was crying. I looked down, the tears shook themselves free and soon I was sobbing but at first I honestly didn't recognize the sound as my voice. I think I was screaming. I couldn't really tell but Marik got a real sour look on his face and he turned away from me.

He said, "You're such a Ra-damned baby. I was just playing around. I said sorry."

"It hurt," I said but I don't think he was listening. This was the first time I had cried like this in a while, I mean _really_ gushed like that. I don't think Ryou had even seen me like that. The pain of Marik trying to force his way into my mind was bad, sure, but I think my reaction had more to do with the fact that he would actually try to do something like that, pain or no.

Another beeping sound from the second dryer.

My tears stopped coming so fast, or at least, I stopped screaming. I was just standing there, mute as always, letting the tears fall. I must've looked like a fool. It was his fault I was like that but still, I was so ashamed of myself. _Bakura_ would never have even flinched at pain like that. And speak of the devil, Marik's cell phone began to ring. Only one person has his number. And that person isn't me.

Marik answered it with a laugh, "What do you want?" He paused and then said, "The Laundromat. … Yeah. … Heh, alright."

He hung up and started for the door. He stopped only for a second and without even looking at me, he said, "Bakura's going to ditch Ryou at school and meet me down the street. I probably won't be home tonight. You can take care of the rest of this, right?" And before I could open my mouth, he left.

I looked back at the empty building and after a minute more of sobbing, headed towards the dryer.

* * *

To be continued…

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Her Sweetness: _Review_, please! 


	5. Alice In Wonderland

Her Sweetness: Ooh, look at all those kind reviews! And this is your reward. :D (By the way, someone was confused about the pairings. I know it's weird the way I have it in the summary because you can't really tell. BUT I'm going to leave you guys in the dark. Sorry, you will just have to read to find out!)

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Slide

Chapter Five

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The fact that I have a best friend has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

Getting home with all of those clothes by myself in the snow was harder than I thought it would be. I had two huge bags to carry and I could barely see where I was going. Luckily, there weren't very many people on the sidewalks because of all the un-shoveled snow (and what idiot would be trudging around in six inches of snow?) but there were plenty cars in the street and I was trying to be careful not to wander into traffic.

I did, however, step into a snow bank and then fall over backwards. I twisted my ankle and dropped one of the bags. Marik's not going to be too happy whenever he gets home to examine his clothes… I had trouble getting out of that snow bank by myself and that little kid standing by, pointing and laughing at me really wasn't much help.

When I got home, I put the bags down in front of the coat rack by the door and shrugged off much jacket, leaving it on top of the pile. I looked around and saw the place just the way we'd left it a few hours ago. Lately there had been a chain of break-ins in Eastern Domino. I heard something about it on the news, they had been saying that police suspected it to be the same person and all the parents were really worried because they thought he might try to steal Christmas presents, what with it being so close to the holidays and all.

I thought it sounded like a story I knew but I couldn't remember which one. Alice in Wonderland, I thought? But no, that had nothing to do with stealing and Christmas. I thought that maybe I'd remember later but as I looked at our house, empty except for me and the furniture, I lost all interest. I don't think our house would be robbed anyway. Besides the fact that we don't have an presents or Christmas decorations—Marik won't allow me to decorate the house at all—no one would rob the house Marik lives in. That's just like _asking_ the Angel of Death to take you right then.

I sat down on the couch, my clothes still wet from the snow, and stared up at the ceiling. Trying to count those little bumpy things on the plaster was extremely boring but I had to do something, anything, to keep me from crying again. It wasn't going to work, I was at thirty-five and I knew it wasn't going to work so I reached down for the remote and turned on the television. Unfortunately, I had never managed to move the couch back after Bakura moved it so the glare from the screen was pretty blinding.

Weatherscan. My absolute favorite channel. It's not really exciting, all it does it recite the weather for the next week over and over with stats about the environment in between but I love it. There's this soothing music that loops in the background and every time the page changes, there's this woman's voice that tells you what they're showing next.

"Your local weather condition," she said then and the page changed to a map of the area and the incoming white clouds. More snow, it meant.

I looked across the bottom. More snow _all week_. This just wasn't fair. I knew I would have to go outside sometime. Marik would more than likely come home and demand food and I'm always the one to go out to the store, rain or shine. I remind myself of a postman. I wondered then when Marik would come home. When would he get tired of being with Bakura? Showering with Bakura?

My vision blurred again and I was suddenly disgusted with myself. Marik _loathes_ self-pity. Poor Malik the Hikari, I thought, he's just as boring as can be…

A little later on, I woke up to the sound of banging on the front door. I had barely opened my eyes before stumbling off the couch and half-running to the door.

"W-Who is it?" I slurred the words terribly.

"Malik, it's me!"

I opened the door without hesitation and stepped back to let Ryou in. It was snowing outside and heavily. Ryou's silver hair was seasoned with the white stuff and his red jacket was kind of wet. He shut the door behind himself and then looked at me after putting his jacket on the rack.

"What…" he tilted his head and then took a step toward me, "Malik, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

He always knows.

"No, I'm sorry, Ryou, it's nothing." I wiped vigorously at my eyes which probably only made them look worse. I knew for a fact they were red because they're always red after I bawl like I had before I fell asleep on the couch.

Ryou frowned and took me by the hand. We sat down on the couch together and my head was automatically on his shoulder, his arms around me. He didn't say anything for a seconds, only let me sniffle and attempt to hide my weepy eyes from him. After a few minutes, I asked in a sleepy-sadness voice, "Why do you think Marik likes Bakura so much, Ryou?"

A pause. "Is that what this is about? Malik, you don't—"

"Could you… could you just answer?"

An even longer pause. Ryou's hold on me shifted and he leant his cheek against my head. His brown eyes glowed as he stared at the television screen which was still turned to the Weatherscan. "Well," he began, "Bakura's very pretty. But on a friendship basis, I think they just have a lot in common. They can understand one another very easily and… I think it's a comfort—not just for Marik but for Bakura as well—not to be the only one."

"Only one?" I asked.

Ryou shrugged a little. "I don't know either. Honestly. But one night, Marik was over our house and I woke up and heard them talking in Bakura's bedroom. Marik said it was nice not to be the only one and Bakura agreed. It was… it was really strange because whenever I over hear them talking, it's always in riddles. I think they talk like that just so we _can't_ understand them."

I mulled that over for a bit. Ryou let go of me and I sat up, facing him. We stared at each other for a little bit and finally, I laughed. It wasn't a ho-ho laugh but it was something and it was sincere. So sincere, in fact, that I have no idea where it came from but that got Ryou going and before either of us knew it, we were really laughing. He leant over and kissed me on the cheek and I did the same to him.

"What do you think it means?" he asked when he had calmed down a bit.

I thought for a second. "I have no idea," I said. "Why don't you ask Bakura?"

"Are you kidding? Bakura would kill me for eavesdropping. Why don't you ask Marik?"

I looked at him like he'd lost his mind and he returned the expression. I sighed. "I don't think Marik wants to talk to me right now. I'm not sure, but I think we had a fight."

"Really?" Ryou brightened.

"What're you so happy about?"

"You had a fight. That means there must've been some sort of exchange, right? Before, you barely even spoke to each other and now you're fighting! A real step up, if you ask me. What did you fight about?"

I gave him my version of his big eyes and it was a silent plead for him to not make me tell. He looked unfazed by it and I wasn't really surprised. Nothing comes close to that look he can give you when he wants something.

"… I don't know," I said.

"_Malik_," he chided.

"For serious! I really don't know. He wanted to know something, I told him no and then he tried to force his way into my mind—"

"He did what?" Ryou shouted, aghast.

"He stopped before he really got anywhere though because I was crying," I insisted, trying to clear his name. It wasn't working. Ryou gave me the saddest look, once again, like you'd give a burn victim only this time the burn victim just got hit by a bus.

"Malik… why would he…" Ryou's voice was mixed then with anger. His face got a little red. He turned away from me and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was usually the one to freak out over something like this. But Ryou wasn't freaking out, he was just thinking. He huffed and turned back to me. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Why should you be sorry? It's not your fault."

"No, but… Well I'm going to say something."

My eyes widened. "Ryou, don't! Please!"

"No, Malik. You can love Marik until the cows come home but he cannot hurt you like that. You are the other half of his soul, he should treat you with more respect, he should… h-he should… Ooh, this makes me so mad!" Ryou cried out and slammed his fists down onto the couch cushion. "I don't like him," he said with finality.

"Ryou, don't pass judgment like that, it was just one time—"

He stopped me with a shrewd glance.

I started again, "Okay, so this is the second time but that was a long time ago and—"

"Two times too many. I'm going to say something and you are, too!"

I gave him an incredulous laugh. "I'll do no such thing!"

"You will do it and I'm going to make you. You know I'm not very stern with you most of the time but this is something you have to do, for you own good! You can't just let him go unchecked, hurting you all day, willy-nilly!"

"But he's _not_ willy-nilly," I insisted. Ryou and I looked at each other again but this time there was no laughter. The woman from Weatherscan informed us that she was switching pages again but that was something I don't think Ryou really heard.

He put his hand under mine and cupped it, tracing small patterns over my fingers with his other hand as he said, "I will say something. You know it's not meant to be spiteful, but… you love him, right?"

I hesitated, only for a second. "Yeah."

"Then something has to be said. I can't stand seeing you in pain, Malik. You mean too much to me."

I smiled and leant in, kissing him on the cheek again. Maybe I was mistaken but I thought I felt him flinch… I ignored it and said happily, "You mean too much to me too, Ryou."

He giggled. "Now," he said, "what shall we do with ourselves for the rest of the day? I'm sure our tramp-like other halves won't come in until three in the morning or some other indecent hour. I still cannot believe Bakura had the nerve to just run off campus today! … I mean, I can _believe_ it but I don't like it."

After shaking my head, signaling that I didn't approve either, I looked under the television to see the time. 6:35. I wasn't aware I had been asleep that long. "Do you really think we should do anything? You have school tomorrow, right?"

He waved his hand at me. "It's only exams and I've done all the studying I can do what with Bakura around thinking it's funny to steal my textbooks and hide them."

"But Ryou, isn't it important—"

"What will be will be! And as for Bakura, I think he'll be a Senior again next year unless he sleeps with the principal. And I don't think he would seeing as how it's a woman."

I shrugged. "You never know. It's only been one semester. Maybe he'll straighten up after winter break."

There was a long pause.

"Yeah, right!" we shouted and laughed. It was good to have that laugh again. The one that I knew was coming from just us being together.

He giggled again and smiled. "Either way. Just one more day of testing and I'm yours for three whole weeks!" he cried and launched himself on me. We both flipped back and fell over the armrest of the couch.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Review, please! (I'm being a little lazy with this next chapter so I need motivation. XP ) 


	6. Morning Showers

Her Sweetness: Sorry for the long wait, you guys. Heh heh. You all must hate me by now but try to enjoy.

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Slide

Chapter Six

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The fact that I have a nice body has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

Ryou and I spent the rest of the night together. Thing is though, after the very beginning, we never touched on the subject of Marik or Bakura. That's something I love about Ryou, he can focus on me like there's nothing else of interest in the world and, in turn, it causes me to focus on him. I'm not saying Marik didn't cross my mind at all because he did but normally, if I had been alone or with someone else, the tears would start to flow. With Ryou it was just a dull throbbing and then my attention was back on my best friend.

We stayed up until about eleven thirty and then fell asleep. Partially because we both knew Ryou had school in the morning and partially because we were tired. When I woke up due to rays of sunshine making their way through the blinds, Ryou was still asleep. He was curled up next to me, his hand on my chest and snoring lightly. I looked up and realized we were on the living room floor. The clock underneath the television was blinking a red 7:03 AM.

I blinked and then shook Ryou gently. "Hey… Hey, Ryou…" I whispered.

He whimpered and his hand clutched my tee-shirt tighter.

"Ryou," I said, this time louder. If he didn't hurry and wake up, he'd really be late for his exams.

Ryou stirred a little more and finally mumbled something that sounded similar to: "Malik…" I shifted and he opened his eyes, fluttered at first, but then really opened them and then squinted away from the sun.

"G-Good morning," he said, slurring a little as he sat up.

I wanted to ask about what he was dreaming but instead I nodded towards the clock and said, "It's late, you'd better get going."

At first his eyes widened and he whirled around to see the time. After a second, he smiled and looked back at me. "No, no. My first exam isn't until 11:30." He giggled. "Don't worry, I won't be late. I'm just going to stay here with you until then."

I smiled at him and before I could say anything, he looked around and guessed aloud, "I can see our good-for-nothing other halves haven't come back."

"Nope," I said automatically.

It was quiet for a moment before Ryou stretched his arms above his head, causing the hem of his shirt to rise above his belly-button. I looked and my eyes lingered for as long as the pale skin was exposed. The sight was gone a second later when he put his arms down and smiled and leaned over to kiss my cheek. I didn't know he was going to do it and I leaned back a little, immediately feeling bad when he pulled away with a sorry look on his face.

He stood up and said cheerily, "Well, I just feel gross—"

"Ryou—!"

"—I slept in these clothes and haven't had a shower!"

I blinked stupidly. I thought he meant because I pulled away from his sweet kiss. He looked down at me, surprised. "Oh, what were you wanting to say, Malik?" he asked.

"I… Oh, nothing, I just was going to say that if you _wanted_ to take a shower, you can always use ours." I got up before waiting for his answer and said, "I'll go get you a fresh towel."

He smiled. "We think so alike!"

"Yep." I started for the stairs and called back over my shoulder, "What color towel do you want? We've got blue, purple, magenta, lavender—"

Laughter echoed up after me and followed me to the linen closet. "_Lavender?_ Malik, you are such a fag!"

"So are you!" I laughed back.

"I know it," he said when he joined me at the linen closet, peeking over my shoulder. I said to him that the black towels were off limits, them belonging to Marik and we both knew he'd be ticked if he found out one of us even touched something of his. It irked me, the idea of both him and Bakura drying each other with that towel after one of their private showers.

Irked me so much, in fact, that I was unaware that I had been staring into the closet long after Ryou had chosen a lavender towel and was heading to the bathroom in the middle of the hallway.

He called to me, "The left faucet is the hot water, right?"

"No, we switched it, it's the right one now."

"Seriously?"

"No!" I laughed. I shut the door of the closet and walked over, seeing him turning the faucets, still laughing, probably at how gullible he was just then. It really wasn't like him to believe me but that's okay, I thought, it's still kind of early and even Ryou is allowed some morning-forgetfulness.

"I'm going to make breakfast down stairs, it should be ready by the time you get out," I said.

The showerhead leaked a little at first.

"I'm not so hungry," Ryou said, still fiddling with the valves. "Um…"

"Yeah?"

"You wanna… take a shower together?"

The showerhead shouted and water came pouring out with hard but nice pressure. We'd had it fixed two weekends before and it has been working nicely ever since. Ryou looked at me with those huge does eyes as he unzipped his pants and then moved to take off his shirt and for some reason, even as the shirt rose over his head, I felt like his eyes never left me. I could feel heat rising to my cheeks as the room filled with steam. I shut the door.

Ryou's shirt hit the ground and he started again on his pants, pulling them down, having to shift to get them around his hips.

"Um, sure," I said and that was stupid. Obviously, I was going to say yes if I shut the door and I wondered blankly why I did. I took my shirt off, the heat growing in my face. I don't know why I felt that way. This was Ryou after all, my best friend, and even though I had never seen him naked before, my face _still_ should not feel this hot.

I glanced at the mirror over the sink and saw through the slowly developing fog that my face was tinted purple. I looked over at Ryou and he was blushing too, he was also naked and testing the water with his foot as he moved back the shower curtain.

My pants fell down around my ankles and I kicked them over to join his.

"It's fine now," he said, a half-smile on his face and I felt like a giant perv. Ryou hadn't taken one look at me and I had about mapped out his entire body. He stepped in, disappearing from sight, except for his shadow that I saw through the light blue shower curtain.

I followed, unsure at first, and then stepped in on the opposite side of the tub, at once seeing his body drenched. He turned around, flushed and smiling, his hair clinging to his cheeks and neck and I have never seen it shining like that.

The shower wasn't big but it wasn't too small either so we both had room to move around. I was oddly quiet but I don't think anyone could blame me. I mean, just a half hour ago, I was thinking of Marik and Bakura in the shower and now I was in the shower with my own best friend.

Ryou reached over to the little sill over the rim of the tub on the wall and took the _White Rain _body wash from it.

"Hey, what happened to the _Cinnamon Dream-puff _you said you had?"

"We ran out," I said.

He shook his head at me, finally turning himself to face me. His eyes were closed as he laughed and held the bottle in his hand. "You use too much then!"

"Probably."

He opened his eyes slowly and flipped the top off the bottle as his eyes searched my body slowly as if he were looking for an X that marked the treasure's hiding place. He obviously found it because his eyes lingered for a bit longer on my crotch and his blush intensified. He grabbed a washcloth and started to pour some of the body wash on it, lathering.

His body was wetter than mine, him being under the shower and suddenly he took me by the wrist with his hand that once held the body wash and led me over to his side.

"Don't look so nervous, you're making me blush! As if you couldn't tell." He giggled lightly. "Such a nice body."

"Are you talking about yours or mine?"

He had to turn his head so as to not laugh right in my face. "Silly!" he shouted and startled me by moving the soaped-up rag up and down my back.

I noticeably shivered and he laughed again. "Didn't you know I would wash your back?"

"Um, yeah, I mean, no, um…"

"Well, it would work better if you turned around for me."

I turned around without comment and soon felt the cloth, slick and foamy, washing in firm but soothing circles. No one since my childhood had washed my back and it felt so nice. Usually, when I wash it, I don't do a very good job, particularly because I'm so annoyed with my back—those horrible markings are a vivid reminder—and I am worse with having other people look at it but Ryou didn't bother me. He just continued to wash it tenderly and began to chuckle when I purred at the soft touches.

"Feel good?" he asked, teasingly.

"Yeah," I mumbled, still enjoying it. I wondered if Marik would be as gentle. My mind answered back with a resounding no. That wasn't surprising.

A minute more passed in silence, both of us just enjoying being intimate. I didn't want to break the silence but I had to ask. "Are we doing this just so I won't feel bad about Bakura and Marik?"

He didn't say anything.

"Ryou?" I insisted.

He hesitated. "Maybe. Maybe that's it. But that's not the only reason."

"Then what—"

"All done. I think you'd want to wash the rest of you yourself, am I right?" He didn't give me a chance to answer. "Do you want to wash my back now?"

I nodded after a second. "Yeah."

The shower was, in total, about fifteen minutes, a little longer than the ones I took by myself which were usually about five minutes, including drying. When we got out, we used two separate towels, his was lavender and mine was a magenta towel that had been hanging on the rack.

The bathroom was still foggy and the mirror was completely steamed up so we couldn't see ourselves as we opened the door to leave.

I came out first, looking back at him as we were in the middle of conversation. "American Idol is totally going to suck this year. There's no more talent, it was all used up with the first five years," I said.

"You say that every year, Malik, and every year there's a bunch of guys who make you cream your pants."

"That's sex, not talent."

"Sex _is_ a talent."

I shook my head at Ryou and turned around just in time to see Marik and Bakura coming up the staircase.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Review! 


	7. Get Us Right

Her Sweetness: Hello, ladies. Long wait, sorry. Review though!

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Slide

Chapter Seven

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The fact that I'm oblivious has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

Marik's eyes met with mine immediately and we both stopped, him on the final step, about five feet away and me, with my hand on the jamb of the bathroom door. Ryou bumped into me and looked over my shoulder while wondering aloud what I was looking at. He gasped upon seeing his yami approaching behind mine. Bakura looked at us both with his eyebrow immediately raised.

Marik, however, spoke first. "So, it's true, you two are screwing."

"What?" I shouted. "That's not true!"

His eyes narrowed at me a bit and that was more than a little scary but hopefully I didn't show my cowardice. I could hear Ryou breathing behind me and I wished he would say something but then I realized he and Bakura were staring blankly at each other and thought then that they must be using their link. I heard a faint growl from Bakura and a little whimpering noise from Ryou.

Suddenly, Ryou pouted and said, "You're so gross, Bakura."

"I'm gross? Look who's shagging his best friend!"

"I'm not!"

Bakura glared at the two of us.

I sweat dropped and raised my hands to lower the tension building. "Wait a minute, this is not what it looks like. And hold on, just who are you two to judge? You two take showers together, right?" I frowned then, remembering. "Why should you look down on us?"

Marik blinked, as did Bakura.

Ryou nodded, he said, "That's right, so just you shush, Bakura."

It was obvious that Bakura did not like being told to shush or at least not in front of Marik (I doubted I really mattered to him). Bakura ignored Ryou's last comment and tried to validate his and Marik's disgust and distaste for us showering together by saying, "W-Well, you know, we don't do it this way!"

Ryou and I looked at each other.

"And what way are we doing it?" I asked, genuinely curious.

Marik turned to Bakura with a raised eyebrow, seeming to be interested in the answer as well.

Bakura was silent for a moment or two while he gathered his thoughts. "You… well, you… you both just took a shower but you smell like sex!"

Marik, to my surprise, seemed to momentarily believe this and sniffed the air lightly in our direction. Out of conformity, I sniffed my arm though, after I did it, I wondered if after sex your arms can smell that way. Unless Kama Sutra positions were involved, I couldn't see it and certainly not in the shower. I felt rather dumb for going along with it when Ryou said, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, Bakura. Stop your silliness, Malik and I only took a shower together and you're just jealous because you—"

"Shut up, Ryou!"

"Don't tell him to shut up," I wanted to shout but instead it came out more like a squeaky plea.

Bakura cocked his head at me, I guess I sounded dumb to him.

Ryou ignored Bakura for a second and looked at Marik. "You can't honestly believe we did anything other than tend our hygienic needs, right, Marik? I know you aren't as stupid as my other half."

"Hey!" Bakura objected.

Marik seemed to scan the scene of us three, take it in, mull it over, and then he shrugged his shoulders and began towards his bedroom. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked on as Bakura rolled his eyes at us and followed Marik, their forms closed and then locked in Marik's bedroom. I wasn't as upset as I normally would have been seeing them go into a locked room because I escaped the possibility of losing my shot—a very microscopic shot, mind you—at Marik.

Ryou wrapped the towel tighter around his waist and went into my room. I followed and shut the door but didn't lock it.

"Can you believe the nerve of those two," Ryou huffed impatiently as he took of his towel on my bed and sat there, nude, legs crossed. He looked at me with sad eyes. "Did that upset you, Malik?"

"A little," I nodded. "But it's okay because you fixed it."

Ryou waved the comment away.

"I'm serious! I was so… so _stupefied _by the accusation that I hadn't a clue what to say except that it wasn't true." I took off my towel as well and let it fall around my ankles. I walked over to my closet, opened it and looked through my clothes. "What do you want to wear to your exam?"

"It doesn't matter, I could sit there in pajamas and take a test."

"Its too cold outside for pajamas." I picked out a red turtle-neck sweater and a pair of slim but thick jeans and threw them over to Ryou.

He began to tug the sweater over his head and mumbled something, repeating it again when I could hear him properly. "You know something I don't understand… is how those two can stay out drinking all night long. And then seem perfectly okay in the morning. No hang-over."

"How do you know they were drinking?" I asked.

"Couldn't you smell it on them?"

"No," I said and thought back to try and recall the smell. "Hey, you know," I said after a moment, "That's probably what Bakura was smelling."

Ryou looked up, having already dressed and was once again sitting on the bed. He started to smile and then laughed out loud, his face turning pink.

I smiled, not really considering what I had said to be funny but there Ryou was, laughing his head off and that made me happy and so I laughed too. I stopped soon though and came over and sat on the bed next to him and leaned my head on his shoulder. His laughter had died down to titters and he kissed my forehead.

I thought of something and looked up at him. "Hey, Ryou?"

"Yes?"

"You know when you were telling Bakura off when he said we smelled like sex… you said he was jealous because and then he cut you off. Why do you think he's jealous?"

Ryou shifted uncomfortably.

"… Ryou?"

"Ummm. Oh, look at the time!" Ryou looked at his wrist which held no watch. He started to get up and headed for the door. "I'll be late for my exam if I don't skedaddle!"

"B-But Ryou!" I got up and hurried after him and he went down the stairs. "Wait a minute, it's only… it's not even eight o' clock yet!" I caught a glimpse of the kitchen clock as I found Ryou in the living room, putting on his coat by the door.

"Thanks for the clothes, Malik," he was talking fast, "I'll wash them before returning, as I always do." He winked and went to open the door.

"Ryou…"

He stopped, his hand on the doorknob. His shoulders dropped and he turned a bit to see me standing by the couch, a forlorn and confused look on my face. He turned around fully and walked towards me, cupping my cheek with his hand and gave me a very small peck on the lips, something he rarely ever does. I was a bit surprised by it actually.

"What's wrong?" I asked, "Did I do something?"

"No, of course not. It's just…"

"Just what?"

"Well, it's a bit of a secret. I really wasn't going to say it aloud when we were arguing, I just wanted to scare him a bit."

"Oh," I blinked. I wasn't sure how I felt about Ryou keeping secrets from me but I could understand having a secret with his other half. Identify, no. Understand, yes. "Well," I said slowly, "that's alright. You don't have to tell me, I was just curious. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, Malik."

"But you don't have to rush out, I won't push the subject or anything like that. Please stay."

"Oh, Malik!" Ryou cried out and threw his arms around my neck, nuzzling his face into my chest. "Thank you for understanding! I can't believe how lucky I am to be blessed with such a caring and sweet friend!"

I blushed and sweat dropped. "Really, it's no problem."

Ryou leaned off of me and began to unbutton his coat. As he threw it onto the linoleum by the door, he said to me, "What shall we do?"

I thought for a moment and my eyes wandered directly above us where Marik's bedroom. I glared at the ceiling. "Maybe we should go somewhere or something. I don't want to be here when the bedsprings start to bounce."

Ryou let out a guffaw, "Malik!"

"It's true."

"It is not true, you silly thing. They aren't having sex. They're probably playing video games or going on porn sites."

"Why go into a porn website when you have a live playboy right in front of you?"

There was a pause, during which Ryou scratched his head thoughtfully. "You're right."

"Wah!"

He giggled, "Oh, hush. I'm kidding. Look, if you're that worried about it, let's go investigate."

"What?"

"Yeah, come on." Ryou took me by the hand and led me up the staircase. He ignored my cries of protest and soon we were at Marik's door. We both knew it was locked but we sat at it anyway and Ryou leaned up against it until his ear was pressed against the crack.

"Hear anything?" I asked, suddenly very interested.

"Well… I hear talking… that's a good sign, right?"

"How?"

"Normally, if you're having sex, there really isn't much conversation."

"… Really?"

Ryou looked at me.

I blushed. "I mean, yes, of course… Ahem. What do you think they're talking about?"

Ryou slowly turned back to the door. "Well… I don't really know." He pressed his ear harder and I could tell he was straining to hear. "Um… I think it just stopped."

"What did?"

"The talking, silly."

"What does that mean?"

Ryou nodded thoughtfully. "It could mean foreplay has begun."

My eyes watered.

Ryou giggled so hard, his hands flew up to his mouth to stop them. Maybe so Marik and Bakura wouldn't hear him. "Y-You're so silly!" he laughed. I didn't think it was funny at all but I did let out a titter when Ryou went tumbling backwards as a result of the door opening. Bakura was standing there, a raised eyebrow at both of us.

He grunted and walked past us to the stairwell.

Ryou blinked and called after him, "Are you heading home, 'Kura?"

"No," he replied blankly.

Ryou and I shrugged at each other.

* * *

Her Sweetness: Review! 


	8. Two Halves of the Melon

Her Sweetness: This chapter took me a while to write…

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Slide

Chapter Eight

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The fact that I'm always speechless has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

As Bakura walked down the stairs, apparently not going home but somewhere else, Ryou peeked into Marik's room as did I and at the computer desk, there was Marik, his eyes transfixed on the monitor. Ryou got up from where he knelt beside me and walked coolly into the room.

"R-Ryou…" I muttered and grudgingly followed my friend. He walked over to the computer desk and Marik didn't seem to notice our presence at all until I saw his eyes twitch to us and then back to the screen. Ryou came right up behind the computer chair and peeked over Marik's shoulder, leaning his elbow on the back of the chair. I looked at the two of them longingly.

"What're you doing, Marik?" Ryou asked. Marik didn't say anything and, in a second, Ryou began to giggle. He looked at me, smiling and pointing at the monitor. "The two of them are doing a personality quiz!"

I blinked.

Marik growled lightly at Ryou. "Hush," he said.

Ryou, however, continued to giggle. "W-What's your personality, Marik? Wait, wait, let me guess. You're a dark soul, right? Oh god, what's this next question?" He read from the screen, leaning further and the side of his chest was touching Marik's spiky blonde hair: "Which of the following choices best describes your taste in scenery? Choice A is a beach in the morning light; choice B is the Sahara at night; choice C is a wheat field at midday. Oh, I know which one you'll chose!"

Marik quirked an eyebrow. "Really now? Which one?"

"B. The Sahara, right?"

"Actually, no." Marik looked back at the computer with a satisfied smirk. He clicked the mouse. "It's A."

"No way! You did that just so I'd be wrong, Marik."

"No, I didn't. Really, it's what I think. The Sahara would be second though… I don't know who'd think a wheat field is good scenery."

"Wheat fields can be pretty, too."

At this point I was at a loss for words. Not that I had said anything during the whole time we'd been in the room but you get my meaning. Ryou just talked so well with Marik, it seemed so natural. I was really jealous and I knew it was bad to feel that way towards Ryou because he really is the sweetest thing but I couldn't help it. I'd thought only Bakura had that way of speaking fluently to Marik but seeing Ryou do it so easily…

It made me think then that maybe it isn't Marik who is hard to connect to. Maybe it's me.

Well, I stood there in the middle of the floor, looking totally ridiculous, I'm sure but it didn't seem like the two of them really noticed me. Marik's lavender eyes were concentrated on the screen, as were Ryou's soft chocolate eyes now. He opened his mouth and I was prepared to hear the next question on the survey but instead, Ryou said softy, "Marik, I'd like to talk to you about something that's been bothering me."

"And that is?"

"How you treat Malik."

I gasped loudly but, once again, I seemed to remain invisible and inaudible because Ryou looked down into Marik's narrowed eyes. "Ryou, please don't say things like that," I croaked out.

"Hush, Malik," Ryou said, not looking at me.

"What do you mean, how I _treat_ him?"

"You caused him so much pain yesterday. He was so upset. You tried to force your way into his mind again, didn't you?"

Marik snorted and blew air out of the side of his mouth. "Oh, _that_. Listen, I apologized to him already _even though _I was just playing with the kid." Marik looked at me when he said that. The word "kid" stung pretty badly.

"That's not playing, Marik, and you know it," Ryou raised his voice a little.

"Well, it's over now, just what the fuck would you like me to do?" Marik raised his voice as well.

Ryou furrowed his brow and sighed heavily. He backed up from Marik and walked around him and the chair to lean back on the desk, standing almost right in front of Marik. He opened his mouth to say something but just then, something odd happened. It seemed I heard Bakura's voice come from Ryou's mouth, and I wasn't the only one.

Though, actually, it was just Bakura yelling from down stairs.

"Marik! Where the hell do you people keep your daggers? Don't tell me I have to go get one of mine from home!"

I looked towards the door. "What in the world does he need a dagger for…?"

"Malik, go get him a knife, would you," Marik said, not really a request but a kind demand. "He's supposed to be getting a snack."

"Yeah, okay," I replied absently. I was more than a little reluctant to leave the two of them there with all that tension Ryou had created but I decided I'd rather be away from that.

So I went down the stairs and crossed the living room carpet quietly, coming into the kitchen and finding almost all of the cupboards thrown open and the drawers askew. My jaw dropped in shock and dismay. "What are you doing?" I whined. "Everything's a mess!"

Bakura, who was facing the other way, whirled around at the sound of my voice. He'd been scowling at first but then the harsh frown lines on his face softened. He quickly folded his arms. "Where's Marik?"

"Upstairs," I said, still mourning my kitchen. "Why are you looking for a dagger? What are you trying to cut?"

He stepped away from the counter to reveal a melon. I was a bit surprised, I had expected to see a large slab of meat, bloody and with flies buzzing around it. He must have noticed me looking at the melon with my head cocked and so he said, "What? Never seen a cantaloupe before?"

I shook my head. "It's not that, it's just that I hadn't pegged you for a healthy eater."

"I'm not. I eat things that taste good."

For some reason I found the combination of that statement and the determined look on Bakura's face to be terribly funny and I busted out laughing. He didn't look amused and I continued to laugh as I went to the only unopened drawer and pulled out a reasonably sized knife, perfect for the job of cutting melons. I could see Bakura watching me even as I laughed and, for the life of me, I can't imagine why I was still even chuckling. It really wasn't all that funny. I calmed down enough to see what I was doing and I found myself settling down and thinking back to what was going on upstairs. I just knew Ryou was going to make this thing with Marik even harder for me.

"Ah!" I shrieked suddenly and dropped the knife.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I heard Bakura's voice ask.

I dropped the knife to the floor and drops of blood followed, hitting the shiny metal. I looked down at me cut finger with wet eyes. It didn't look deep at all but it still hurts. I held it tightly and headed for the sink to run warm water over it. A hand grasped by shoulder and I knew it was Bakura; of course, he was the only other one down here.

"Hold on a sec," I said, "I cut myself."

"I know," he said and turned me toward him. I saw that he was smirking down at my finger. He took it from my right hand's grasp and raised it to his lips. Before I knew it, my finger was inside the warmth and wetness of his mouth and I felt him suck lightly. My eyes must have been the size of dinner plates.

His eyes were closed as he held my hand securely in both of his and continued to suckle the blood from my wound. It felt extremely odd, his tongue running across the cut, back and forth and I felt more or less in a trance. I couldn't stop watching him for a while. Couldn't almost believe it was happening. I thought, what is he doing…?

I started to pull my hand back and he stopped immediately.

My face was so hot and I knew I was probably as red as a cherry and it didn't help that all Bakura did was stare at me. Bakura's eyes are not so unlike Ryou's. They have a certain softness to them but there's something about them that are like Marik's, intruding and questioning.

I turned my eyes away and looked at the melon that had been cut in half.

"Um… I…"

Bakura seemed to try to put on a smile. I could tell he was trying rather hard. The result was a half smirk-grimace and it was a little scary. "I cut out the middle-man," he said. "No need to run water over it now."

My eyes flickered up to his face and I saw a spot of my blood on his lower lip.

"Uh…" Still me. Still at a loss for words.

Bakura stared at me a little longer and his attempt at a smile immediately dropped. He turned around and picked up both halves of the melon, one side in each hand, and headed across the tiled floor towards the carpet.

"Eh… thanks for cutting this."

And he left. I could hear his footsteps as he went up the stairwell and finally a distant shout as he reprimanded someone for messing with his personality score. I had no idea what in the world that whole thing was about but I decided to forget it. After all, it was Bakura. He's known to do weird, spontaneous things and what he just did really shouldn't surprise me.

I sighed and turned to run tap water over my wound. I feel more comfortable when the middle-man is around.

A little later on, Ryou left to take his exams and he took Bakura with him. Bakura did put up a fight but Ryou got him out of the door and as my fellow hikari waved goodbye to me, he winked. He doesn't do that very often and that put my wind up. Since Bakura had left me alone in the kitchen, I'd gone back upstairs shortly after him and the four of us spent the time with the personality quiz.

The tension in the room between Ryou and Marik had seemingly passed when I reentered the room. I wanted to ask Ryou what had happened but I never got the opportunity and I certainly didn't want to ask in front of Marik or Bakura. So the time we spent together was relatively nice and Marik even said a few words to me regarding the quiz.

But as I closed the door after Ryou and Bakura who had just left, I sighed and turned around at the empty living room. Marik was still upstairs. Or, at least, he was until I heard footsteps and saw his form come down the stairs. He looked at me and made his way over to sit on the couch.

I stood there, like an idiot, as he picked up the remote and turned the television on.

"Why don't you talk?" he asked suddenly.

"I dunno," was my immediate response. It was stupid, sure, but at least I said something.

He looked sidelong at me and a grin broke out on his face. I love it when he does that and hate it at the same time because I can feel an immediate stiffening in my crotch. I moved my hand a little so he wouldn't notice so much. That didn't work so well so I sat down on the couch (a good distance from where Marik sat) and casually sat a pillow on my lap.

He quirked an eyebrow, his grin diminishing. "What'd you do that for?"

"What? Sit?"

"_No_," he frowned. "That pillow. What are you hiding?"

I blushed pretty hard. "N-Nothing, it's just comfortable… this way…" I tightened my grip on the side of the pillow and let my eyes drop.

Marik twisted his mouth a little but, thankfully, seem to let it slide. He sighed and began to scoot closer to me. I was already pushed up against the armrest on the left side of the sofa but its like I tried to join forces with it, pushing myself up as far as I could. I don't think Marik noticed. He put his hand over the pillow and looked at me. My blood sugar was going crazy.

"Well, whatever. Anyway I was thinking that you're too shy and unsociable when it comes to me."

"Am I?"

"Don't interrupt!"

"S-Sorry!" I meeped.

His mouth twitched. "It's fine. So how about you and I go out somewhere tomorrow night?"

There was a long pause, during which I just stared at him and he stared back at me.

"… Huh?" I wondered aloud.

"What do you mean, huh?"

"I… don't think I heard what you said right." I was afraid what had happened in the Laundromat would happen again so I treaded cautiously. "Did you just say we should go somewhere tomorrow night?"

"Yeah."

"Oh," I said and thought I was going to faint. I couldn't believe it. My _dreams_ were coming true and I was actually in them!

Marik tilted his head. "Unless you have other plans."

"No way… Um, I mean, no, I don't."

"Alright, that's cool then," he said, backing up and leaning back on the cushions with his hands behind his head. He looked at the television blankly for a little while and I gathered myself up again. This all seemed to be happening so fast. I had no idea why Marik would suddenly ask me out but I sure as heck wasn't complaining.

"Where do you think you want to go?" he asked suddenly, eyes not leaving the television screen.

"Oh… um… I don't really know…" I tried to think and nothing came up. As an after thought, I found it amazing that he was going to let me choose.

He shrugged. "You don't have to figure it out now."

"Okay…"

The talking stopped and we sat on the couch watching television together.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Review, please! 


	9. Spoiled

Her Sweetness: So sorry for the wait.

* * *

Slide

Chapter Nine

* * *

The fact that I'm cursed with horrible luck has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

The next morning, I had woken up on the couch. Obviously I had fallen asleep there and in this instance, in most romance movies, I might have woken up with Marik by my side, me in his embrace. In some romance movies, he might have blearily opened his lavender eyes, seen me and maybe, in the haze of his sleep, he would have confessed his love to me and we would have kissed and the kiss would have been perfect and lovely even though it was morning and we both would have had horrid morning breath. But things like that don't matter in romance movies.

Everything is perfect in romance movies.

My life is not a romance movie.

Sometimes, I think my life is more along the lines of a tragedy play. Everything bad happens to the hero, which, under normal circumstances would be me. Even though I am no hero.

Safe to say that I woke up in a rather dreary mood that morning. I was on the couch, wrapped up in a jacket that had before been on the back of the couch. In my tossing and turning during the night, I must've bumped up against it and it fell on me. I looked up and was greeted with the window by the front door and outside it wasn't snowing but the snow from yesterday left patches and the grass that was showing was a dirty brown. The sky was gray.

This didn't look like the ideal day for my first real date with Marik but it would have to do. And anyway, maybe the weather would clear up later on.

I had no idea why I wasn't elated, jumping out of my skin with happiness. Maybe it was the falling barometer. I didn't have time to explore this sudden thought when I heard halting footsteps behind me. I turned and saw Marik at the foot of the steps, his torso revealed to me.

"Morning," he said.

"Oh, good morning." I was glad he kept his distance. Since this was not a romance movie, my breath was non too pleasant.

"You just fell asleep on the couch last night so I left you there."

"That's fine."

"Think of where you want to go?"

"…" I thought. Nothing. "No… maybe you could pick?"

"Okay." And with that, he went into the kitchen.

Easier than I thought. I'll need to train myself on not being so tight-lipped, I told myself. A date with Marik, a once in a lifetime opportunity, even less than! No one had gotten that before… unless he's gone out with people other than Bakura. Bakura's the lucky one.

My outlook started to perk up. If Marik asked me out, maybe that means he really wasn't with Bakura after all. Or maybe they broke up. I wondered what reason they would have for that? Bakura's very attractive, more so than me, but maybe they had a fight. If so, it never showed. But then again it never showed that they took showers together. Maybe I'm oblivious.

I ventured upstairs and went to perform my morning rituals which consisted of urinating, and showering whilst brushing my teeth. Ryou thinks I'm odd for that but I think it makes sense. I used to fight with myself over which one to do first, shower or brush my teeth? I don't want to shower with bad breath, I like pleasant showers. And I don't want to brush my teeth and perhaps be stinky while doing it.

So, I decided to do both at once. And it even saves time, not to mention water. But I really don't have a need to try and save money for bills, my sister in Egypt pays our bills, knowing full well both Marik and I are too flighty to have real jobs. I often wonder if I'm spoiled that way.

Probably.

I was in the shower with my blue toothbrush going back and forth over my somewhat pearly-whites. I had my other hand busy with a loofa sponge Ryou had given me for my birthday last year. Actually, it came in a set of purple loofas. That was very thoughtful of him. I scrubbed around my body and finally spat my toothpaste down into the drain.

I have one of the showerheads that disconnect and it's very useful for getting all of the shampoo out of my hair. I put down the loofa and kept the toothbrush hanging out of the side of my mouth as I reached for my shampoo. It's a special kind for blonds. There's a commercial that comes on sometimes with a blonde girl fighting a brunette and each one is trying to convince the audience their hair color is better. I'm blond of course but I don't want to take sides.

Humming to myself, I began to rub it in and set the disconnected showerhead down by my feet, letting the warm water run over my ankles.

"Hey, Malik!" I heard a call through the door.

This startled me and I called back, "What?"

"Your cell phone's ringing!"

"W-Well, I can't really get it now…" I fumbled with the shampoo bottle.

"_What_?"

"I-I said—"

"It's still going!"

"I know that but I _can't_—Whoa!" I slipped on a drop of shampoo and hit the showerhead with my foot, redirecting its powerful spray upwards and the hot water scalded my testicles. "_AH_!"

"What's wrong?"

"Hot, hot, hot! It's so hot!"

"Shut up, Malik, I don't want to hear your singing!"

I almost shouted back that I wasn't singing but didn't, too busy trying to turn off the water and jumped out of the shower with shampoo still in my hair. I look down and saw that I was tinged red. My penis looked like an undercooked lobster.

I sighed.

"I'm going to give you your phone now," Marik said, obviously right outside the door. My cell phone slipped through the crack under the door in a second, still ringing. I bent down and flipped it open.

"Hello?" I asked, exasperated already.

"Hi, Malik! What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't play, what's the matter?"

"Just having… ah, a rough morning. Do you think I could call you back later?" A light bulb went off then. "Oh wait… I have something to tell you."

"Does it have to do with a certain tanned god?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"I know everything."

I laughed. "You're so creepy. Well, yeah, he invited me out on a date. Isn't that weird?"

"Weird? It's wonderful! I'm so happy for you. Where're you going?"

"I don't know. He told me I could pick but I couldn't think of anywhere so I asked him if he could pick and he said alright, that he would. It doesn't matter to me where we go, actually… I'm excited but scared too. I don't want him to think I'm a fool. Or… well, more of a fool."

"Oh, Malik. You worry so much."

"Someone's got to."

"You'll be fine," he said reassuringly. I love having Ryou as my best friend.

"Thanks. Well, listen, I'll check back with you later… after the date. I'm standing around with scorched meatballs so I have to go."

He was still laughing when I hung up.

I washed the rest of my hair out in the sink and then wrapped a towel around my waist. I exited the bathroom and was in the hallway, on the way to my room, when I heard the loud, funky music coming from Marik's closed door. His world is so weird…

Even so, I definitely wouldn't mind being let into it.

I was in my room a little bit later, looking through my closet full of clothes. Trying to look for something warm, comfortable and something he rarely sees me in but not too flashy. I found a long-sleeve white shirt with a dragon symbol on it and a light brown jacket. I decided on dark-blue jeans and my lucky socks which had never been lucky before I dubbed them so today.

I spent most of the day in my room, buying music for my iPod and doing other such things. I always try and buy music that will help lift my spirits when I'm about to go through something extremely stressful and today was a day if ever there was a day for such music-buying.

Around five thirty or so, right in the middle of a very good song, there was a knock on my door.

I opened it and, of course, Marik was standing there. As soon as he saw me, he began to head down the stairs, saying, "Let's go."

"Okay." I decided to try and give everything he said an answer today. No more tight-lipped Malik. Hopefully. I followed him down the stairs and out the front door. There was a little snow on the ground but not a lot and it wasn't too cold outside. The sun was setting over the snow-shingled trees and the sky was like sorbet. It was much better than this morning and I felt alive.

"So where are we going?" I asked, looking up at him.

"A restaurant in Central Domino."

I blinked. That wasn't what I was expecting.

"Wow," I let slip.

"What's the wow for?"

"Um, nothing, it's just that… I just thought you might pick a place more abnormal."

He grinned. "I did think of that but I figured you're so shy, if I did take you somewhere abnormal, you'd faint."

I pursed my lips and he laughed.

There were people on the street but there always were on weekend nights, lots of couples. I wondered if he and I looked like a couple. We weren't kissing or holding hands but we were walking pretty close. I saw his hand inches away from mine, swinging like mine, and I got that urge to hold it. It hit me like a ton of bricks and, afraid I would act on it, I stuff the hand in my pocket.

The restaurant was called _Amandine _and it was beautiful in my humble opinion. It was on the left side of the street with a few tables outside under a green canvas awning. A few lampposts that had a sweet glow stood outside and the lights inside gave it a warm look.

We came inside and the hostess showed us to a table towards the middle of the place. There were shiny glasses and funny folded napkins on the plates that I spent longer than I should have looking at. The place was so nice, I didn't think I deserved to be there. Not too many people were there, besides us maybe thirty or so. Everyone was talking quietly.

A menu was placed under each plate and I picked mine up, flipping it around.

"You have it backwards," he said.

I looked up, embarrassed, and then flipped it over. "Oh, here we go… Everything looks great… Pesto chicken carbonara…? I wonder what that is."

"It's not so good. Unless you like over-peppered things. You'd probably like the southern calzone best."

"Huh? How do you know? You've been here before?"

He nodded and set his menu aside.

I almost asked with who but bit my tongue. Instead, I said, "Wow. Didn't know you went to places like this."

"I do have a life," he said, narrowing one eye at me.

"Oh, I know that. I know," I said.

"I'm surprised you and Ryou never came here. Seems like the kind of place you'd like."

I nodded. "I do like it but, well…"

The waitress came, saving me from whatever it was that I was about to say. She looked like a typical waitress, brown hair up in a ponytail and a happy, relaxed smile. I wondered if she was rooting for the brunettes on that commercial. "Welcome to _Amandine_, I'm Kathy and I'll be your server tonight. Have you already decided?"

"Yeah," Marik said, "I'll have the penne arrabiata and he'll have the southern calzone."

She wrote it down on her little pad with the pencil she had behind her ear. "And to drink?"

"Mango mojito," he said.

"Um, Monte cristo coffee," I said.

"Okay, your food is on its way," she said and smiled, zipping off.

There were a few beats of silence so I said, "The waiters here are nice."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Hey, guys."

I startled and turned seeing Bakura's big grin right behind me. It scared me half to death and I clutched my chest. He stood up and took the seat on the left, between me and Marik. "What's happening?" he asked.

"B-Bakura, what are you doing here?" I stuttered, mad as hell and confused also. He was not supposed to be here.

"I was walking around and saw you two through the window."

I looked across the table at Marik who seemed calm but a bit surprised. He obviously wasn't invited by him. I said, "Yeah, well… you know, we're kind of on a date, so—"

"Yeah, I heard! How's that going?" he raised an eyebrow at the two of us.

Marik scratched his head. "Uh…"

I sighed. Nothing ever goes right.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: If you guys give me reviews, I PROMISE the next chapter will be out soon, you have my word. 


	10. Three's Never a Crowd

Her Sweetness: See? I keep my promises.

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Slide

Chapter Ten

* * *

The fact that Bakura loves flirting has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

Bakura just would not shut up. I was really starting to loose my patience with him, however Marik seemed just fine. That's probably because he endures Bakura all day, just about everyday. I can see how they would have been adverse to each other on their first few meetings. And on top of everything else, he made me feel so uncomfortable that I couldn't talk to Marik. After I had just started to do it properly, too… _He_ had to come along and _ruin _it.

But my anger is not like most people's as I am extremely adverse to confrontation. Usually my immediate reply to confliction is depression and that's never any good because nothing gets solved that way but still, it's the way I am.

Our food came only a few minutes after Bakura sat down with us and made it clear that he wasn't going anywhere any time soon by ordering for himself which meant, I thought, Marik would have to pay for him also. That was, until I heard:

"Good, you can pay for our meals as well," Marik said, grinning at Bakura.

Bakura raised an eyebrow at him and I thought he would object but then he grinned as well, flashing a Visa credit card. "Alright, no skin off my nose. Hell, buy yourselves a bottle of scotch, then we'll really be having fun."

"Ryou got you a Visa card?" Marik asked.

"Where'd you get that?" I blurted. I know good and well that Ryou would never do such an insane thing.

"Picture it," he cleared his throat as if he were about to tell a grand story, "Central Domino Park. A half an hour ago. I was walking along, admiring the foliage when I spied a man sitting, forlornly, on a bench a few feet away. Being the do-gooder I am, I went over to offer him my company. We spoke for a while, seems he was having some bladder issues, and he had to rush off to find the nearest toilet. He left the credit card, as a memento."

Marik nodded. "So you scared the shit out of some guy and swiped his card while he was leaving."

"Yeah, baby."

I gasped. "That's awful! Just wait until Ryou hears about this!"

"I don't think Ryou will care too much, my little pepperoni."

"He will too ca—did you just call me a pepperoni?"

"Yep. See, the way I figure it, I buy the little _hikari _something nice and shiny on my new friend here and he keeps quiet. But we need not go through that channel if you'd like something that would keep _you_ from blabbing?"

"I can't believe you're trying to buy me—"

Bakura turned to my other half who was chewing amusedly. "What about you, 'Ri? Does a Ferrari sound good to you? A yacht, maybe?"

Marik laughed, trying not to spray food all over the place.

"What's funny?" he asked.

"Nothing," he answered. "You're crazy."

Bakura shrugged. "Maybe." He began to dig in his pockets. "Look here, I got the guy's whole wallet. There wasn't much but the card… though there was a library card, a stick of gum and some pictures of a ve-ry pret-ty lady." He pronounced both syllables in "very pretty" and held out the pictures to me and Marik. It was a blonde woman, probably in her late twenties, standing under a Christmas tree with a Santa hat on. She _was_ very pretty.

"What would you want with those?" Marik asked.

"The library card has his address on it. I can go there, thieve some of this lady's under things and sell them with the pictures on E-Bay. You know perverts are always looking for new things to sniff."

I crinkled my nose. "That's disgusting…"

"You may think so but 'Ri here sure doesn't," Bakura wiggled his eyebrows at Marik suggestively. "He likes sniffing people's frilly things, right?"

"Oh shut up!" he laughed.

"Why? It's true, you know it's true!"

"_Dare_. Doesn't mean I wanted to."

They went back and forth and I watched with a little bit of amazement. I don't know why they don't act this way when Ryou and I are around. Around us, they're all 'we're too cool to talk to one another' but when they're in their own setting, they're like the best of friends. A lot like me and Ryou, actually, if not a bit more perverse. I looked at them joking around with each other and wonder how I could have thought there was something between them other than friendship.

They seem really close, sure, but that's about all I could see. And for some reason it made me incredibly happy to see Marik having such a good time even if it wasn't really with me, per se. I was there and I was talking a little bit but Bakura mostly dominated the conversation as he tries to dominate most things. As the conversation went on, I minded him a little less because he told me things about Marik I never knew before.

"Like when we came here about a month ago," Bakura was finishing another story, "remember that guy? I don't know what it was but he was doing _something_ under that table and it _didn't_ have anything to do with finding his spoon either!"

"See, the woman he was with was on the other side of the table and her eyelids were fluttering," Marik explained to me. "It was freakish, especially when she started to grunt and moan."

Bakura gestured to the table. "Notice the table cloth only hangs down to our laps?"

I nodded.

He smirked. "Wasn't like that a month ago. I'm betting they want to be able to see everything that goes on down there from now on."

When he said that with such seriousness, I laughed, I couldn't help it. I looked up and saw Marik staring at me from across the table, his deep lavender eyes on me and I blushed, my giggles coming to a slow stop. I smiled at him nervously and what he gave me wasn't really a smile but a lilt of the lips. That was nice.

Bakura paused and looked from me to Marik and back to me. He nodded slowly and then grinned. "Aha. I see googly-eyes."

I turned red and tried to ignore that. "Um, so, Bakura was the one you came here with once before?"

"Yeah. But it was more than once. We come here often; the food's good and there's a nice… um, damn, I can't think of the word."

"Aura?" Bakura offered.

"Close but not it."

I shrugged. "Ambiance?"

"Hey, right."

I felt, for some reason, proud of myself. I gave myself a mental note to thank my dictionary when I got home. A few minutes later, dessert came. Marik and I both got the tiramisu while Bakura had ordered peach-flavored ice-cream.

"It's my favorite," he said to me after Kathy, the waitress, had left us once again. "It's even got real peach pieces in it."

Marik rolled his eyes. "You're such a kid."

"What's wrong with peaches? It's a sex food." He looked at me when he said that.

Marik busted out laughing. "A what?"

"Sex food, yeah, you know, it's sexy."

"How is food sexy?" I wondered aloud.

"Like… strawberries, peaches, chocolate… I can't really think of anymore right now but, yeah, if you see your partner eating something like that, it's a turn-on."

"For who?" I asked.

"Hell if I know. I've never had a partner who ate those kinds of things in front of me so I wouldn't know if I get turned on by it or not."

"Oh."

"We should experiment." He held out his bowl of peach ice cream to me. Marik snickered but I didn't find it funny.

We left _Amandine_ not long after that. The bill was paid by Bakura's new credit card which I didn't approve of but I had no money so I let it slide. Kathy told us to have a good night and I liked her and was amazed that I could talk Marik into leaving her a nice tip. We walked outside and the air had cooled off even more and I inadvertently shivered. I wasn't really ready to go home, I wanted more time with Marik and apparently, so did Bakura.

"Let's go to the beach," he said when we crossed the street.

"The beach?" I pursed my lips. "But it's too cold to go swimming."

"Who said anything about swimming? Don't you like to look at the tide?"

This surprised me. I never expected to hear such a thing from Bakura of all people. "Yeah," I answered meekly, "I like to look at the tide."

Bakura gave me a thumbs up sign and stretched his arms behind his head. He looked at Marik pointedly, "What say you, 'Ri?"

He nodded. "Okay."

We started walking down to the boardwalk and the sky had turned dark since we had before entered _Amandine _before six. The stars were out but not too man, or at least not too many that I could see but that was probably because Domino is a large city with lots of lights and it blocks out some of the stars. Pity that. But at least it can't block out the moon.

The wooden planks of the boardwalk were under my feet soon enough. There was a wooden railing not far from us and shops and places to eat all along the side and up the pier. The shore was lit in a bluish glow from the moon and the water rushed up onto the sand in strokes of white foam. The waves were in disarray beyond that and it really was beautiful.

I had never actually been to the beach at night, I realized and Marik, Bakura and I were sitting on the sand a few yards away from where the tide came in. Bakura had taken his shoes off and was squishing his toes in the sand.

I looked over at him. "So it's really been Bakura's feet smelling all this time. And everyone's been blaming low tide," I said.

He looked at me and laughed when it registered to him that I had said that. Marik was sitting on the other side of him (Bakura had planted himself right between us) and was laughing really hard as well. The two of them laughed for a while and I really didn't think what I had said to be all that funny but it must have been because I swear I saw tears coming from Bakura's eyes.

I laughed a little too but not nearly as hard as them. Bakura finally lowered his laughter down to one single grin and his chocolate eyes narrowed as he leant towards me. "You're funny," he said and put his hand on my back. I could feel the warmth from it through my jacket and shirt.

"Am I?" I smiled back.

"We should hang out with him more often, 'Ri," he said to Marik.

And to my surprise, Marik just grinned at me as well. "Yeah."

Marik wants to hang out with me more often, I thought. Life sure is looking up for poor old Malik the Hikari. I suddenly felt really comfortable in their company and I started to relax, leaning back a little, propped up on my hands.

Bakura stood up suddenly. "I'm hungry. I'm going to go get something from the boardwalk, anyone want anything?"

"We just ate," I told him.

"You act like eating's limited! Come on, it's free!" He flashed his credit card.

"I'll pass."

"Me, too," Marik said and then eyeballed Bakura. "You're going to get fat."

"Then I'll be fat and happy!" He ran off towards the lights and laughter with his credit card. I let out a breathy chuckle and turned back to watching the waves roll in. It was a nice sound and I enjoyed just being in the quiet with Marik.

He continued to look out to the ocean and said, "You know what? You're a lot better when you relax."

I blinked. "Better?"

"Well, you know, you're more fun to be around. Your voice gets nicer when you aren't so up-tight and I never knew this before but you're actually funny. I knew there had to be a reason why Ryou was with you so often."

"Hey!" I laughed.

He smirked at me and leant in a little. "You get prettier when you laugh, too."

I opened my eyes and looked at him. We were actually a lot closer than I remember being when Bakura was there and I could see the light of the moon reflecting off his eyes, the parts that weren't covered with blond bangs. I didn't really know what to say to that and my face was very warm.

"Well…" My thoughts seemed hazed by our close proximity and I could feel his bangs touching my forehead. "You and Bakura act different now, too…"

He chuckled in his throat and it was the most arousing sound I've heard in a long time. Leaning in even further, his mouth was by my ear and the only thing running through my mind was: I can't believe how lucky I am.

"It's just the way I am," he breathed in the shell of my ear and my erection just couldn't get any bigger.

"Hey, guys, guess whose got churros!" Bakura came over and scared the living daylight out of me, once again. I jumped back and Marik went back to his sitting position, looking not the least bit mussed or surprised at the sudden intrusion. Maybe Bakura does this all the time. He raised his eyebrow at the two of us. "Ooh-er. What's all this now?"

"Shut up," Marik said, a trace of a grin on his face.

I crossed my legs, trying not to be too conspicuous.

Bakura took his spot in the middle of the two of us again, handing us churros that we didn't ask for. He paused and held his hand to his ear. "Hmm? Hear that? I think it's the sound of the humpback whales a-callin'."

I groaned.

Marik was grinning and elbowing Bakura who laughed. Things could so be worse.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: How's that for fast? Haha, oh yes. 


	11. Art of Seduction

Her Sweetness: Long time no see, right? Sorry, babes, a lot's been going on. Still love me?

* * *

Slide

Chapter Eleven

* * *

The fact that there are all kinds of freaky has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

It had to be around midnight when we finally got back to East Domino. We had left the beach when the tide began to go out and it was still a beautiful sight but the aroma had become worse than Bakura's feet which, upon closer inspection, really _did_ smell like low tide. There weren't many people on the streets as we walked back to our street and that suited me just fine. Too many strangers make me feel self-conscious.

The street lights were on and it had actually started to snow again. Once again, gorgeous, but not pleasant to be in since I had once again forgotten my hat. Marik and Bakura seemed to enjoy it however.

"I remember when I had first started to eat snow," Bakura said, looking up at the white stuff falling down all around us. His brown eyes seemed to soften.

"You eat snow?" I asked.

"Of course! It's like an unflavored snow-cone. Right, 'Ri?"

"Pheh. Don't look at me, I don't eat snow. It's dirty."

"How?"

"It comes from clouds, clouds are in the sky, the sky's polluted. So, the snow's polluted. You could be eating bits of shit."

I flinched at my yami's bluntness but he did have a point. I certainly wouldn't eat snow if only for the fact that it just doesn't seem all that tasty, or filling and that thing Bakura said about it tasting like snow-cones seemed a bit odd.

Bakura shook his head, saying, "I'm surprised at you, 'Ri. Where's that lovely child-like, wide-eyed look on life that you usually have?"

An unexpected laugh at that from me, "What? When have you ever had a child-like out look on life?"

Marik frowned. "I'll have you know, I'm not old and salty yet. I'm still young and it is possible for me to have a wide-eyed outlook on life."

"It's possible," I said, "but it's not happening."

Bakura chuckled. I felt his hand come down on my shoulder and I looked up at his deep brown eyes and bared white fangs. "You're too cute for your own good, kid."

My lavender eyes were caught in his chocolate orbs. Kind of halting. Bakura is, as I've said before, extremely good-looking, if not a tad bit annoying. I don't know if I would have been caught for longer had Marik not been standing right next to us, which he was. Which is why I turned away and shrugged Bakura's hand off. "I'm not cute," I said, "you just need glasses."

"Let's have a vote. Who here thinks the kid is cute? Raise of hands."

I blushed furiously but before I could object, both of their hands were raised. Well, what do you know. I was awestruck. Marik was grinning at me. "What?" he asked. "Of course, Malik, you're hot. You _do_ look like me after all."

I sweatdropped and Bakura almost died laughing. We kept walking.

We made it back to me and Marik's house some way or another. The lights were on. Marik opened the door to see Ryou sitting on the couch, the television on in front of him. I came in right after Marik and Bakura after me.

"Hey, Ryou!" I called, full of joy and jumped onto the couch beside him, causing his cushion to fly up. I hugged him and he hugged back, but it was a little less enthusiastic.

He laughed. "Hey, I guess you had a good time."

"Yep." I smiled.

"Yeah, so hey…" Bakura sauntered over from the door and stood in front of us. He bent over, his nose two inches from mine. "Malik, where's my goodnight kiss?"

I was all eyes. "Huh?"

"What, come on," he said smoothly, sliding on the couch next to me. "I paid for dinner and even bought you a churro-"

"That he didn't ask for," Marik said, idly.

Bakura shrugged. "Oh well. C'mere, boy," he said aggressively and grabbed my shoulders. I was to stunned to do anything but make a small, pathetic squeaking sound and before I knew it, Bakura was on the ground with a pillow that Ryou had just thrown at him.

"What was that for?"

"For trying to kiss him," Ryou said coolly. "And just a minute, were you with them the entire time?"

"Well, not the _entire _time-"

"_Yes_," I interrupted, "the entire time!"

Ryou looked at Bakura as if he'd just driven a bus over a burn-victim.

Bakura scowled. "What? Can't a guy hang out with his two bestest friends?"

Marik snorted.

"Come here," Ryou said, getting up from beside me and dragging Bakura by his arm into the kitchen. Both Marik and I could hear Bakura's shouts of protest until they were beyond our ears.

Marik, who had been standing by the coat stand throughout the entire exchange, finally came over to take up Ryou's empty space. He picked up the remote and began to flip channels. He said to me, eyes not moving from the screen, "So did you have fun?"

I blinked. Never expected that. "Oh… Oh, yeah, of course."

He smirked. "Even with Bakura around?"

"Yeah." I smiled thoughtfully. "He's… weird. But he's not bad."

"Weird is an understatement."

"You think?"

"You have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes."

I gave this consideration. The way it was said made me want to sleep with one eye open even though Bakura sleeps across the street. Well, he usually does anyway. One morning, I found him in a bush out back. But that's something probably par for the course.

"So, um…" I was blushing. I didn't want to ask this, but I knew I had to. Just to be sure. "So, you and Bakura… you two aren't…?"

Marik looked at me. "What?"

"Um…" I made hand-motions.

He paused. "Baking a cake?"

I made the hand-motions slower.

"… Screwing?"

"I would have chosen a better word for it," I coughed.

Marik laughed suddenly and loudly. "Yeah, right! With Bakura? Come on, are you serious?"

"But he's so, um, good-looking…?" I didn't want to assume.

"Yeah, but we're too alike. Plus, he's into some freaky stuff."

"And you aren't?" Oops, didn't mean to say that.

"There's all kinds of freaky."

"Oh."

Marik stopped flipping the channels and put down the remote. He looked at me for a second and I could feel heat rising in my cheeks. Once he saw I was turning blue, a slow-forming grin broke out on his face and he leant in. "Does that make you happy?"

"W-What? Happy about what?"

"That he and I aren't screwing," he said and his voice was getting lower, his eyes more intense. Ra, this is too much.

I swallowed in my throat and croaked out, "Why would I-"

"I mean, I'm free, right? Anyone can have me." His hand found my thigh and clutched it tight. Good thing my erection was on the other side. His hand felt like a heating pad turned on level 10 and I thought any minute he might take pity on me; just throw me on the floor and (for lack of a better word) screw my brains out. "But I probably won't stay on the market for long, so someone who, say, might be interested, has to ask themselves… how bad do they want me?"

"I… I…"

"What is it, _'Li_?" he hissed in my ear.

"M-Marik, I wan-"

"Hey, Malik, where're the Cheetoes?" came Bakura's voice from the kitchen. And wherever there's thunder, there's lightning. Bakura came whirling into the living room and jumped over the back of the couch, planting himself in between Marik and I with a big bag of Doritos. "Couldn't find the Cheetoes, so I got these. You need to go shopping, Malik. What's on TV?"

I could have strangled him.

Ryou came in half a second later, his hair mussed up and out of breath.

"What happened to you?" Marik asked, an eyebrow raised.

Ryou ignored him, "Bakura, I _told_ you-"

"Hey, let's watch Saw 3!" Bakura shouted, mouth full of chips.

"Listen to me," Ryou insisted.

I tried my best to hide my erection but it was shrinking fast, anyway. What in the world is going on in this house?

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Short, I know. But hey, baby, I'm back. Review? 


	12. Sunflower In Moonlight

Her Sweetness: Oh wow, such great reviews! Haha, you're too nice to me. Anyways, this chapter is going to delve more into plot. Last chapter, I was trying to get my groove back but it's all coming together, either way.

* * *

Slide

Chapter Twelve

* * *

The fact that things are changing has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

So we watched Saw 3, as Bakura suggested. It ended around three in the morning and by that time all of us were pretty wiped out. But during the movie, Bakura was just as raucous as ever, laughing, choking on his Doritos and such. It was pretty much like when all four of us went to the movies a while ago only there was no popcorn and I didn't want any of Bakura's Doritos (which were really mine) no matter how often he offered it to me. I don't see how someone could eat during a Saw movie anyway but oh well.

Ryou, to my surprise, was riveted to the screen. He had never been partial to regular horror movies but the goriness he just can't keep away from. That's why people who think Ryou is this shy, meek little thing are all wrong. They only see his exterior, but Ryou can handle a lot. More than me anyway. I flinched at every ripped out organ in the movie.

When the carnage finally did come to an end, we were all kind of tired. Bakura had finished off all the Doritos and stood up, yawning, "I'm bushed. C'mon, 'Ri."

Marik got up from the couch and began to follow Bakura up stairs. Since Ryou made no objection, I guessed that meant the two of them were spending the night at our house. After a beat of thought, I realized that Ryou and Bakura had had their last day of testing already so their winter break was finally here.

"Bakura," Ryou called after him, "are you just going to leave all these crumbs on the floor and sofa?"

"Sure, why not," he called back.

Ryou huffed.

Marik was at the first landing on the staircase, his hand on the railing. He looked at me, a grin twitching at his lips. "Want to sleep with us?"

My breath caught in my throat for a second.

"Just kidding," he said idly and continued up the stairs.

_Bastard._

I exhaled and looked at Ryou who was grumbling under his breath and wiping at crumbs with his hands. His hair was in his face and his cheeks were pink, almost as if he'd just come from outside. Suddenly, the tension I had felt with Marik and Bakura (both sexual and plain irritation) all night just washed away and I laughed.

He lifted his head and raised an eyebrow at me. "What's so funny?"

"You!" I laughed harder and then came over and tackled him to the ground.

I told him to forget about the mess and so he did and we went upstairs to my room. On the way inside, I noticed Marik's door was already shut and probably locked. I wondered if they both slept on the bed or if one slept on the floor. We walked into my room and Ryou shut the door behind us but it remained unlocked.

We took off our clothes, they lay in a pile on the floor. I had already seen Ryou naked the day before so it wasn't my initial shock but the moonlight coming through my open window made a big square on the carpet and Ryou was in the light for a while, walking towards my dresser. I don't know if he could feel me watching him but his hips sure were swinging. I wonder if I'll always be so perverted.

"I call dibs on your sunflower pajamas!" he shouted, breaking me out of my trance.

I frowned. "Fine, fine, but I get them next time."

He winked at me and I blushed.

I climbed in to bed first to be by the wall and Ryou climbed in second. We've always slept side-by-side with me always on the wall side. I have this thing about wanting to be protected even though Ryou is my size. He says he likes the edge.

"You came in so happy," he said after a while of idle talk. His brown eyes were focused on the ceiling. "So despite Bakura, I guess you guys must've had a nice time, right?"

"It was great." I had been bursting at the seams, waiting for Ryou to ask about it. Oftentimes, talking to myself just isn't enough. "But I was really surprised when Bakura came by. And even more surprised when it hit me he planned on staying. But, I guess in a way, he helped me out. I never would have been able to talk to Marik as much as I did if he hadn't been our conversation starter."

"So it was awkward in the beginning?"

"A little. Not because of Marik though," I said, defending him, "always because of me. I couldn't find anything to say and even when I did, the things I said were just answers to his questions. Bakura got my blood boiling enough to talk." I giggled. "He's pretty funny."

"Glad you think so."

"You don't?"

"Depends."

I shifted. "Is something wrong, Ryou?"

He blinked at the ceiling some and then his eyes turned on me. The moonlight flooding the room made them glow blue. "No… It just bothers me that he disturbed your date. I know you wanted to be alone with Marik."

"Oh, Ryou!" I grabbed his right hand in both of mine, turning my body to him. "Come on, don't be upset with him. It's fine, really."

"…"

"And because of him, we had an even longer date, I bet…" I said thoughtfully. "After dinner, we went to the beach. That was his suggestion. That was… the first time Marik hit on me."

This seemed to get Ryou's attention. "He hit on you? Like how?"

"Coming up really close… whispering…" I blushed. "I think he really likes me. He did it again when you and Bakura were in the kitchen tonight. Before we watched Saw 3?" There was a pause and then I remembered better and my cheeks flushed. "But Bakura came and jumped in the middle of us! Marik's hand was on my thigh and everything… He said that anyone interested in him should hurry up and say how they feel. I was about to. His voice was just so-"

"Malik?"

I blinked. "Yeah?"

"T-The truth is…"

Silence.

I whispered, "What?"

"… Never mind." He grasped my hand again and squeezed. "I'm glad you had fun."

I thought for a second. Ryou had been acting kind of odd since I came home. Maybe I was talking about the date too much. It clicked with me then that maybe Ryou felt a little left out. I know he wanted me to have Marik, he's always been so supportive of it, but then, Bakura did come with us and Ryou was alone all that time. I thought about how I would feel. And even now Ryou didn't complain to me about it. What a guy.

I reached over and hugged him to me, feeling the warmth from his skin wash over me like a wave.

A soft giggle from him. "Malik?"

"I just want to hug you," I said. I snuggled up closer, my face in his hair, on his neck and I could feel him shiver. I looked up, "Are you cold?"

"No…"

"You feel warm."

He had been a little stiff for a while but after a moment of me holding him, I felt him go limp and he melted into me, his arms coming up and around my waist. He buried his face into the crook of my shoulder and we stayed for a while like that. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. I didn't want him to be too upset about us going out without him.

"Listen, let's all go out again sometime. All four of us. We could go to the movies again… or maybe to the Winter Festival… Yeah! It's open next weekend. Your break's just in time."

He placed his head beside mine, on the pillow. "The Winter Festival?"

"Want to?" I smiled.

"Sure."

He didn't seem to like the idea too much. I adjusted. "Maybe just the two of us should go."

"Huh? Why?"

"I just want to go with you." I stuck out my tongue. "Who needs pesky yamis to bother us? We can have more fun without them."

"Do you really think so?"

"… What? Of course, we always have."

"But you love Marik."

"Yeah…" I hesitated. The intense look in Ryou's usually calm, warming eyes was throwing me off, making me second guess myself. If he had asked me my name, I might not have answered right away. I said, "But I don't have to be near him all the time. I want to be with you too."

"Oh, Malik."

"What's _wrong_?"

This was getting to be too much. I couldn't remember a time when Ryou had been this emotional and he wasn't a girl so I couldn't chalk it up to PMS.

"Nothing, nothing."

"Come on, you can tell me. Hey…" I just thought of something.

"Yeah?"

"What… what happened in the kitchen? When Bakura came into the living room and you came in behind him. What was up with that? You looked kind of… off."

He cracked a smile. Thank goodness. "Bakura was messing with me."

"How?"

"Held a knife up to my throat."

"What?" I gasped.

Ryou laughed. "I was trying to reprimand him about intruding on you and Marik. He was just ignoring me, searching for snacks. Then I got in his way and he pushed me onto the counter and grabbed a knife out of the drawer and pushed it up against my throat. Started saying things. He knows how… how hot that gets me."

"Um…"

Well, this was new.

My face was warm and Ryou was laughing more now, and once again buried his face probably to stifle himself. He finally came up for air. "Just look at how blue you are!"

"Uh…" I gulped. I'd never really been speechless around Ryou. But this knife thing. Kind of throws you for a loop. I should never have showed Bakura were our knives were. Finally, I managed, "How did he know…?"

"What? That knives turn me on? He stole my journal."

"I didn't know you had a journal."

He lowered one eyebrow. "Want to read it someday?"

"N-No, I could never just-"

"I'm starting to think about relinquishing my privacy," he said, eyes more intense than ever. He raised up off of the bed suddenly, his arm that was around my waist coming down on the other side of me; I was almost pinned down. His nose was inches from mine. This seems to be happening a lot lately.

"Ryou…?"

He leant down and kissed me on the cheek. I relaxed. This I was used to. The he switched sides, kissing my right cheek. I looked up at him and his eyelids were drooping as he came down again, his lips falling this time on my own, lightly and then firmly. His eyes closed. I'm not sure how long he kissed me but at some point, I thought I heard him say, "Love…"

Then again, I was probably dreaming.

How could _that _be real?

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: So what do you think? Any predictions? Review and tell me your thoughts. 


	13. The World

Her Sweetness: Hello, hello. Here's your chapter.

* * *

Slide

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

The fact that I'm a loser has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

I woke up after a dream of fishes. I think I was one of them, actually. Strange because I don't really even like seafood all that much. Anyway, seeing the ocean again was nice. It sparkled blue and white under a full moon and on the shores, just beyond where I could venture, there was a blanket spread out and on it sat two people. I couldn't make out who they were from where I was, frolicking in the ocean, and in the dream I doubted I really cared but as soon as I woke up, the first words on my lips were…

"Who..?"

I blinked blearily and the room came into focus. The light was still shining through the blinding, in lines on the carpet but it was sunlight instead of moonlight. I looked on my nightstand and it was blinking 2:37. We slept till early afternoon. Not surprising considering how late we stayed up but still disappointing. It felt like I had wasted a whole day, not that I would have done much with it.

Feeling something move beside me, I turned and saw Ryou, the sunflower pajamas I leant him were all jumbled on his body and the first button was undone. His hair covered most of his face and one silver lock clung to the moisture on his lips. I touched my own lips briefly, thinking of our kiss.

It wasn't my first kiss… it couldn't have been my first real kiss. I mean, Ryou's given me little pecks before on the mouth but even before meeting him, I must've… somewhere… some_one_…

No, I thought.

No, Ryou really did give me my first real kiss.

Seventeen years old and just now getting a real kiss. Not even any tongue! I was unsure of how to feel about this. Was I a loser or just ugly? And which would be worse? If Marik had come on to me, Bakura as well and even Ryou, there was no way I could be plain ugly. The world just doesn't work that way. So, it was official. I'm a loser.

Ryou stirred a little more and moved closer to me. His hand was warm with sleep and as it clutched my wrist, I felt a little tingle go up my arm and end in the center of my head. What's going on? Why did he kiss me that way? What in the world was all that stuff he was saying last night?

"_T-The truth is…"_

I can remember that but after the kiss, everything seemed to be blank. I cant remember what happened. How far did he go with me? I trusted Ryou with my heart but that was something he had never done before and with me not remembering… maybe he was tempted. I pulled the covers up and looked down my boxers. Everything seemed in order. Everything accounted for. Maybe it was only a kiss.

Looking at him again, I felt my heart ache. The silver hair in his eyes, the paleness of his skin and the way the sunlight shone on his wet lips. Like we had only kissed a little while ago. I licked my lips. Why him? Why Ryou? I thought I loved Marik… and Ryou has been supporting me, trying to help me out all this time… I wonder how often he thought of trying to voice his feelings to me… How often has he thought of last night? It just kills me to know I've been so blind to my own best friend's feelings. I'm so oblivious to everything and he tries so hard to make me happy. Still, I… I just think of myself… Ryou, he…

He's so cute. Why he doesn't get everything he wants is a mystery to me.

I reached over and cupped his cheek in my hand. And even as I look at his angelic face, all I can feel is a deep friendship for him.

What can I do?

"I'm sorry, Ryou…" I whispered.

"Sorry?"

I yelped.

He opened his eyes, brown butterflies flickering. He smiled. "Sorry about what?"

"… Oh my god…" I exhaled and leant back against the headboard. "Don't scare me like that!"

"I'm sorry," he giggled. "I didn't mean to, you're just so easy to startle."

"How long have you been awake?" I asked.

"I just now woke up. What time is it?" He looked behind himself at the clock on the nightstand, answering his own question. "Wow! We slept in really late. Well, it isn't surprising. What, didn't we go to bed at like three or something?"

"Past three."

He stretched his arms out over his head. "And I'm such a fat cat, I still don't feel like getting up. I just want to stay in this bed all day."

I felt my face flush.

Ryou smirked, an interesting expression on him. "Look at who's thinking dirty."

"I-I am not!" I said weakly.

His smirk relaxed into a smile and he turned over in place, snuggling up to another pillow. "I think I'll take an after-bed nap. For some reason, I'm just so sleepy."

"It is your first day on break," I pointed out.

"You're right. I should take it easy. If you get up, just shut the door so our pesky yamis don't come in here to bother me." He paused, snickering. "Not that I think they would."

"Okay."

I kept looking at his slender back and heard nothing. After a few minutes, I saw his back move in a steady rhythm of sleep and heard little snores emitting from him. I made my way to the foot of the bed and slid off, crossing the room and closing the door behind me.

When I was in the hallway, I thought of going into the shower since I had been sleeping for a long time and rolling around in both mine and Ryou's dead skin cells. I went to the linen closet and looked inside, seeing my towels, all in different colors and then seeing Marik's, all in blacks and other dark shades of gray. I looked to the side of me and saw Marik's door, cracked open about two inches from the jamb.

He never has his door even unlocked, much less open. We must be under attack, I thought, or maybe some other kind of disaster. Curiosity overtook me and I stepped closer, a lavender towel clutched to my chest. I came up to the crack but kept a little distance. I had walked in on him once before and that was horrible enough… despite the fact that I thought about what I had seen for a very long time. I didn't want to come off as the pervert I was.

But then I heard something and, startled, I held on to the towel tighter.

"So what are you going to do now?"

That was Bakura's voice. Figured he'd still be here. They must've slept in as late as us. It pained me to stay so far from the crack. I desperately wanted to see how close they slept together.

Marik's voice now: "What do you mean?" He chuckled, that deep-throated sound that nearly made me cream my pants.

"About Malik," Bakura said. "How's it going to be now between you two? You still have to live together, you know, how're you going to handle the tension?"

I wondered what the hell that meant. _Sexual_ tension? This must mean Marik wants to take our relationship slow.

"There won't be any tension," Marik said.

"How can you know?"

"Why would there be? It's just a phase. Life will go back to normal."

There was silence. This all sounded a bit odd.

"And Ryou?" Bakura finally asked. "What about his feelings?"

"He told me his feelings, remember? He wants Malik to be happy. And Malik's happy. So now it's my turn." I could almost see the grin forming on his lips. "A deal's a deal, after all. Does it bother you about Ryou?"

Bakura snorted. "No. He grown up enough to do what he wants. Hell if I care."

"So now what will you do?"

"What I do best. Charm the boxers off the _hikari_."

What the heck? Did he mean Ryou? But what… oh my god, my head is starting to hurt. This is too much right after I wake up. I needed mental exercises before I started to eavesdrop on my yami's conversations. I started to count backwards from one hundred but before I even got down to ninety, Marik laughed aloud.

"You're so vain."

"Ah, shut up. When this is all over, everyone will be satisfied."

"It will take some getting used to for them."

"Yeah… Malik probably the most," Bakura said thoughtfully. "You know how he is."

"Yeah, I know."

Bakura snickered. "You laid it on so thick last night, you even had _me_ believing you were into him…"

My breath caught.

"… what did you tell him on the beach? How _pretty_ he was, right?"

Started to choke me.

Marik said, "Yeah. Ryou was satisfied, I know he was. I do feel a little bad about tricking Malik, though. When Ryou comes to me tonight and after I've told him how I feel about him, you can start up with Malik and we can put this all behind us. If you think about it, this ended up pretty well. I mean, he shouldn't be too attached. We never even kissed."

I gripped the towel as tight as I could and watched through blurry vision as my tears fell and made tiny wet spots on the linen.

How _could_ they?

I turned on my heel, wanting to get away from that door as fast as I could but I tripped and halfway fell down, my foot hitting the door wide open. I heard two gasps and whirled around briefly, seeing the astonished look on both Marik and Bakura's faces. Like they thought I would never know. Like they thought I was too stupid not to find out… And I was.

"Malik-!" Marik said but I didn't stay to hear him out. I went across the hall to my room, leaving the towel on the floor. My head the aching, I could barely make out Ryou laying tangled in my covers. I was screaming.

"Get out!" I yelled, my voiced sounding choked. "Get out of here!"

Ryou's head emerged from the covers, his brown eyes wide, shocked. "What? Malik, what's wr-"

"You sick bastard, how could you trick me like that!" I had never cursed at Ryou before. "You thought I wouldn't care! All this time, you planned to take him away from me! You liar!"

"Oh no, please, Malik, wait a moment-"

I felt a hand on my upper arm and it spun me around to look into my yami's eyes. "Malik, don't fly off the hinges, let us explain!"

I slapped him.

The sound echoed off the walls of the hallway and my bedroom. His head was turned slightly to the left and the print of my hand was visible. In the background, I heard a sob and then crying. Ryou was crying. But he _never_ cries. In some ways he's just like a yami. In a lot of ways he's just like a yami.

"D-Don't talk to me," my voice was shaking, "just get out. I don't want to see you again." I turned to see Ryou coming out of the bed and over to me. "And especially not you…"

"Oh, Malik, please… Please, just talk to me…"

"No…"

"Malik-"

"I said no!"

He was standing in front of me and took my wrists in his hands and pinned me to the wall. He kissed me hard, fiercely, on the lips, in a way that I would never be kissed again. I did not kiss back but bore it with narrowed, red eyes. He did not draw back completely but let his lips slide to the side of mine and eventually onto my chin. He whispered, "I love you so much. I love _you_."

I pushed him off of me. "That's too bad."

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Thoughts, anyone? Review! 


	14. Assertiveness

Her Sweetness: Hey, all. I just moved AGAIN! Can you believe it? Sorry about the delay! Man, things just aren't going my way lately! Guess I should be mildly happy though…

-wink- New love interest. -giggles-

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Slide

Chapter Fourteen

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The fact that I really like hot sauce has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

The following tender moments and quiet sobbing and sweetness that would've happened in a romance movie never happened. It was loud, that's what I remember. After Ryou kissed me and after I pushed him away I managed to get him out of the room along with Marik. I slammed the door shut and locked it and then the banging started; Ryou's fists pounding on the door, his screams. Even taking into account how angry I was, it was still hard for me to hear. Ryou hardly ever raised his voice.

I heard Marik faintly over Ryou's pleas for forgiveness and my own pained sobs. He was telling Ryou to calm down, probably not concerned with me as I cried much more frequently than Ryou. Then there was something else I wasn't expecting, a loud thud against the door. I didn't give it much thought but it did knock a picture off my wall. As fate would have it, it was a silver frame with a picture inside of Ryou and I at the park one day the summer before; Ryou with a strawberry ice cream cone raised to his mouth and me with cookies and cream ice cream all over my mouth. The carpet in my room is plush so it didn't break.

Still sobbing, I walked over to my bed and lay down, shifting the covers around me, all of it still warm from Ryou. I still didn't understand. Why would he do that to me? I was his best friend, wasn't I? In truth… from past events, I really shouldn't have expected anything more from Marik. But Ryou… Oh Ra, _Ryou_… I expected everything from him, he meant so much. I could've sworn on my life that I meant a lot to him too. But in reality, the Ryou I thought cared so deeply for me was just a gifted actor with a cold heart.

That thought brought on a new wave of tears.

And the last thing I heard before crying myself to sleep was this: "I'm sorry. Please, just h-hear me out… Malik, please? … Whenever you're feeling a little better, come out. I'm not leaving until I talk with you. I-I sent them over to my house so we could talk privately... I'll be downstairs."

The sound I woke up to a few hours later, however, was less saddening and actually a little scary. The window above my bed and slightly to the right was jiggling, making noise. Then, a tapping sound on the glass that finally woke me out of my dream-dusted slumber. I whipped my head around, the covers falling from my vision and I thought I was still asleep, dreaming crazy dreams.

It was Bakura at my window, out in the cold, his cheeks reddened. Inside the fist that tapped the glass was a bag. When he saw me gawking, he grinned and tapped quicker. His lips moved and I faintly heard a 'Let me in!'

I made to get up, almost in a trance - it wasn't everyday some crazed albino knocked on my window - but as my feet hit the carpet, I halted.

"What is it you want?" My voice was hoarse from all the crying.

He tilted his head and lifted the bag higher, pointing to it urgently.

My eyebrow raised and I walked over to the window against my better judgment. I undid the latch and lifted the glass to let in a gust of cold December wind. Bakura was grinning madly then and said, "'Bout time. I was freezing my balls off out here. You're in the way." I backed away from the window and he hopped in.

"How did you get up here?" I asked, looking over the sill to see a step ladder. I sighed, "Oh."

"Yeah, found it out back in the shed!"

I blinked, closing the window. "But we don't have a shed."

"Neighbor's shed."

I turned around to see him dropping his small bag the nightstand by my table. At closer examination, the bag was yellow and orange and after the coldness in the room began to dissipate, I noticed a somewhat delicious smell emanating from it. I then noticed the words on the bag.

I frowned at Bakura as he wrestled his shoes off. "Why did you bring me Taco Bell?"

"Figured you might be hungry," he said, "after all the bawling you must've been doing. And I was hungry too, so I just figured…" His left shoe popped off and he flung it across the room, snow from the bottom making the floor wet. "You like tacos, right?"

I blanked for a minute, not sure what to do but then a flicker of the anger I felt earlier returned. "I-I'm _mad_ at you! How can you just come up here w-with tacos like we're best friends or something!"

"Well, I know you're mad at Ryou. Figured you'd be in need of a new best friend." He struggled still with the right shoe. "What're you mad at me for anyway?"

I can't believe him. "_Hello_? You trick-"

"Ah, ah, ah. I did what? That was Ryou and Marik. Don't get me confused with them."

"But… But you…"

"Come on," he said, finally getting the other shoe off. He leaned back on my bed and dug into the bag, pulling out a taco that was wrapped in colored paper. "Tacos are already chilly from you leaving me outside so long. I had to sprint here with the bag in my jacket just to keep them lukewarm! You should live closer to Taco Bell, 'Li. I'll talk to 'Ri about that."

Now I was really confused. How did he keep changing to subject like that? I stuttered, trying to gain control of my own bedroom and its population, "Y-You should leave. Go back to your house and feed Marik tacos!"

"I'm sure he's raiding our fridge. How'd you know he was there anyway?"

"Ryou said…"

"Ah, okay." He bit into the taco with vicious force and looked around thoughtfully, chewing. "Kinda dreary in here. Turn on the TV, let's watch that Nickelodeon network."

"N… Nickelodeon? You watch - wait a minute, no TV! Get out!"

"You don't like that channel?"

"That's not it at all! I want you out! Do you not understand that I'm _highly upset_?" My voice went into another register.

He blinked at me. I starred back at him, taking in small breaths of exertion. He bit into his taco again slowly and then, with his other hand, reached into the bag again and pulled out another, holding it out to me. "Taco'll make you feel better," he said earnestly.

"Oh good Ra."

"Tell ya what…" His mouth was full and it was hard to understand. "If you tell me what your problem is with Nick and I'll let you have all the hot sauce packets you can handle!" He tilted the bag towards me. "See? I got mild and hot. You like spicy, don't you, 'Li?"

I swallowed. In all honesty, watching him eating tacos when I hadn't had anything to eat all day was pretty torturous. "First of all, I'm not 'Li. My name is Malik-"

"I just-"

"Shut it and let me talk!" I shouted. I found it was easier to be assertive to Bakura. He finished his taco and searched for another but seemed to be listening. "I… I'll eat tacos with you if you can explain… what's happened." I blushed deeply, looking to the side when he stopped munching and looked up at me, almost in awe.

"You… still don't understand?" He gulped.

"I-I'm not stupid or anything!" A line of tears welled in my eyes. "It's just… Well, I know Marik is in love with Ryou and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." He bit down again, chewed, and laughed heartily, spraying taco shell bits all over. "Back up. Who said anything about love? He's in _lust_, he wants Ryou's body."

I let this newsflash sink in. If you think about it, this was pretty upsetting in itself. I thought aloud, "Wow… that's… almost worse…"

"Worse?" He looked at me.

"He…" I blushed deeper, if that was even possible. My gaze fell to Bakura's bare feet, toes twisting in the plush carpet. "It's that he prefers Ryou's body to mine…"

Bakura shook his head, smiling. "You take things too personally! That's what's wrong with you. Think about it - you look like Marik! Screwing you would be like rubbing on himself and trust me, he does that enough already."

"_Do you have to be so gross_?" I screeched.

"Nah, I just like to mess with you."

I huffed.

"Your tacos are cold."

"Surprised you haven't eaten mine already."

"I've given it thought. C'mere," he said and smirked.

I surrendered and collapsed onto the bed beside him and the bag, simultaneously reaching in and getting my own. I wanted to hide my eagerness to eat it from Bakura but he seemed to be watching me so intently and with every movement his grin covered more ground on his face. I bit down and it was a little less than lukewarm but it was still great. I searched around for the sauce packets and found two labeled hot and dumped them both on.

Bakura looked satisfied and continued to eat his own. We sat in silence for a bit but of course with Bakura that wouldn't last long. I just waited for him to say something but he just kept eating and occasionally stealing glances at me like I couldn't see him.

I was on my third in no time flat. The bag seemed to have an endless amount; I knew Bakura must've been on his fifth. I wondered how many he got. Then I thought about that man's credit card that he had stolen. It all just seemed so weird. Nevertheless, I had to hand it to him. He'd gotten my mind off of Ryou - if only for a few minutes.

"So…" I took a breather from my mad taco-rampage. "Why do you like me?" I asked casually.

He looked up, sauce on the corner of his mouth and I shifted my lips. After a short pause, he lowered his eyelids and grinned. "Ah. Straight to double-Jeopardy, eh?"

"Or is it just lust?" I asked, looking back to my half-eaten taco.

"Which do you want it to be?"

"I-I don't care!" I snapped hurriedly. "But don't lie to me, be honest. I guess that's why I'm mad at you, you weren't honest, you didn't _tell_ me about what Marik and Ryou were doing."

He snarled, "And just what would I have said? 'Hey, Malik, FYI, your best friend and the guy you're in love with are deceiving you for their own needs!' You wouldn't have believed me. _You_ be honest; I would have been the liar in your eyes."

"Y… Yeah…"

"And anyway," he resumed, "it's a mix of both."

"… _What's_ a mix?"

"You asked if I liked you or if it was lust."

"H-How can it be a mix? Lust is-"

"Lust is strong physical attraction and a very first impression of a person is made up of their physical appearance. _So_, when I first saw you, I liked what I saw… and I still do." He leaned over towards me and wiggled his eyebrows. I sighed.

"You're strange…"

"You know you like me," he said.

"That isn't true!"

"Ah, come on. Don't lie to me." He smirked. "You'll see, I'm better than Marik. I'm an all-around better deal!"

I rolled my eyes. "Is that a fact?"

"Fact? Hell, it's in the encyclopedia! I've got a car-"

"You can barely drive-"

"I've got awesome hair-"

"I bet it's hard from all that gel-"

"I've got money-"

"That you _stole_-"

"And I bought you tacos! What more could you want?"

I turned my head away and starred angrily at the head of my bed. I could still hear Bakura's words from earlier in the day running through my head: _"What I do best. Charm the boxers off the hikari." _If he thought I was going to fall for him because of some tacos, he had another thing coming.

I stood up from the bed and dusted the crumbs from my lap and onto the floor. I could feel Bakura's eyes follow me to the window. "Listen," I said, "I appreciate what you did… I was pretty hungry… but now I want to be alone. So you can leave this way if you don't want to get in trouble with Ryou."

"Trouble?" he said aghast. "He's not my keeper, I go where I wanna go, _when_ I wanna go there!"

I sighed raggedly. "Does that mean you're going to _stay_ in here?"

"Sure, for a while."

"Well, when in the world do you plan on leaving?"

He paused and then lowered one eyebrow at me. "You know, 'Li, I'm getting the feeling I'm unwelcome here."

"Oh my god!" I shouted, my hands flying up to my hair, clutching two fistfuls of golden locks. This really was too much for me and once again I was forced to surrender. I walked away from the window and sat back on the bed surrounded by all my pillows and sulked. "Fine, whatever," I muttered.

"That's what I like to hear!" he said and reached for the remote laying askew on the bedspread. He pointed it to the television. "We'll make a Nick-lover out of you yet, 'Li."

"…"

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To be continued…

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Her Sweetness: There you go! Review, review! 


	15. Magical Journeys

Her Sweetness: Alright, you little chickadees, I'm back. If none of you have been to my page recently, then I'll say this here: I'm starting to write for another fandom along with this one. Its pretty exciting since I've only ever written for YuGiOh. I've never liked another fandom enough to write for it… it's proving challenging at first but I'm sure it'll get better.

Heh heh. At least, I hope so.

* * *

Slide

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

The fact that we always seem to bicker has nothing to do with me.

XXXX

Now I knew why I was never a Nickelodeon fan. Their shows are horrible and don't make any sense at all. Things Bakura roared with laughter at I didn't find the least bit funny but maybe that was partly my mood's fault. One doesn't normally take to being held hostage in their own room with a taco-crazy psychopath. But it wasn't really being held hostage. I could have left anytime I wanted to but the only way out was either through the window or going downstairs through Ryou…

And personally, I wasn't ready for either one of those.

Thankfully, not all we did was watch Nickelodeon. Timid or not, I would not stand for anymore than thirty minutes of that Ra-awful network and when I said so, Bakura (who had subsequently finished off all of the remaining tacos, cold or no) didn't put up much of a fight, merely a groan and something along the lines of: "Whaaaat?"

I told him I had to check my email anyway so he laid back on my bed and rolled around for a little bit while I went over to my computer desk and logged on. Actually, I never really get any mail other than advertisements for nature hike trails and free Botox injections, which don't seem at all desirable if only for the reason that I am against needles going into my face. And I don't think I need them anyway, my skin seems firm enough. At least to me.

But I checked anyway and sure enough there was an empty mailbox save for one new one. It said on the address line that it was from and I just went straight for my delete button but as I reached the mouse across the pad to click, I was thrown off by -

"So, this is where you and Ryou get it on, huh?"

I blushed instantly and ended up clicking on the open button instead and up popped some live-action pictures of two boys that must've been no older than nine - one in a police hat too big for his head and nothing else on top of a pale-faced boy with cherry-red lips and a lollipop between those lips. Unfortunately for me, my speakers were on as well and sounds of prepubescent moans filled my room as their movements followed.

I would've instantly clicked out of it but it was not at all an everyday site and… well… it was just a little entrancing to see.

"Holy shit!" Bakura exclaimed from right beside me, scaring the daylights out of my as he has come to love to do.

I fumbled for the mouse and Bakura put his hand over mind, squeezing.

"No, wait," he said, steadying me. "Let's see what happens ne - Ooh! Wow, can legs really bend that way? This is great!"

"It is _not _great! Get off me!" I shouted, flailing him away from me. I clicked furiously on the small x button at the top but then _more_ popped up. Ra, it was awful; there were hairless penises in every direction, I just didn't know what to do. And Bakura was no help whatsoever, he just stood to my right, howling with laughter and hooting at every position that couldn't be done by people over 85 pounds.

The moans and squirts were getting louder and increasingly wet-sounding through the speakers so I did what any sane person in my position would do. I bent down towards the hard drive below the desk and shut the power off. The sounds, rather than stop immediately which is what I would've liked, instead died down slowly so it sounded like someone slurping up the last of a milkshake.

Bakura was out of breath with laughter, red in the face like when he was out in the cold. "Ah… man, that was great! I should really hang out in here more often if this is the kinda stuff that goes on. Ra."

I frowned at him. "I don't think I could take it."

"I know I sure as hell could," he said and winked, coming around until I could see him fully.

I eyed him suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I could get used to spending endless hours alone with you in your bedroom." He sat on the edge of the desk and grabbed the seat of my chair, pulling me up closer and caught me like a fly in his spider web eyes. "It means… that I really want to be with you, 'Li. Come on," his voice dropped down to a whisper, "you know Marik is a douche bag but I do care about you."

"B… But you said it was lust," I croaked out.

"I _said_," he let out a sigh, "it was a mix. You've got to admit, lust is an important part of any relationship." He leant down and took my chin in his hand, our lips separated by puffs of our breath. "I can't get enough of that face of yours. Your body…" He closed our distance with a soft peck of the lips. My eyes were still partially opened and I let him kiss me in tiny puckers over and over again. They were tiny but unlike Ryou's kiss from the night before, I felt so much fire and passion behind it, like he was holding back from throwing me down and ravishing me. He left my lips and trailed my jaw line with fervent kisses, each hotter and wetter than the last.

He ended at my left ear, pushing his tongue onto the skin there and outlined the shell of my ear, all the warmth from his mouth coming into contact with me. I felt my cheeks warming and lifted up my hands to grasp the collar of his shirt. The way that felt… no one had ever done anything like that to me before. I just relished it and despite my better judgment, I let it carry on until he clamped my jaw with his other hand and suckled harshly on the side of my neck. There would be a hickey there, I realized faintly, the sweet cologne and smell of my bed coming from him and swirling around me, hazing my mind. He suckled harder and harder in that one spot and it took all of my strength of mind to use my hands at his collar and push him off.

Granted, there wasn't much strength to the push but he didn't need much to get him off me, he must've been anticipating it. He looked at me with a lazy smirk revealing one white canine.

"N… No more," I breathed raggedly. "Playtime is over."

"Was it my playtime or yours?"

I refused to answer.

He grinned at my silence and knelt down in front of me, taking both my hands in his. "Okay," he said conversationally. "What will it take for you to give me a chance, huh, 'Li?"

"I'm really not in the market for a boyfriend," I said, looking away. Amazed I said that with a straight face.

He laughed. "I never said anything about being your boyfriend."

"Huh?"

"Haha, you're cute when you look dumb."

"WHAT-"

"Alright, calm down. I just want to get to know each other better. Deal?"

I regarded him wearily. This didn't sound like the Bakura I knew. Since when did he care about getting to know anyone? I thought all he wanted was to-

"And if, on our magical journey of friendship, you happen to get uncontrollably horny…"

Ah. That sounded more like the Bakura _I _knew.

I raised my hands from his and crossed my arms on my chest. "Listen, right now, I really just don't know what to do or who to trust. This whole thing… I've just got a lot on my mind. I don't know if I should go talk to Ryou or not… I guess I owe him enough to get his side of the story."

Bakura perked up. "So if you talk to Ryou, you'll think about me as someone you can trust?"

"Wait, I didn't say-"

"Great, let's go!" He stood and pulled me out of my seat.

"Just a minute, I'm not-"

He scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder, walking towards the door. I screamed and squealed and bagged with my fists on his back but he didn't seem to notice much. It really is a bother being such a push-over; I ought to take up some self-defense classes or else any nut will be able to run off with me. And, of course, any nut _did_. The door to my room was opened and before I knew it we were descending the stairs and down on the landing, and I could hear the fire crackling in the fireplace.

"Malik!"

A gasp came from down in the living room and I of course recognized the voice as belonging to Ryou. It sent shivers down my spine. But I still couldn't see him as Bakura was facing towards him and I was facing the wall.

"Put me down," I said, my voice more wavering than tight, as I had meant for it to be.

I was set down like a porcelain doll and turned on my heel to see him standing in the middle of the living room, hands clasped in front of him, fingers twiddling in each other. His face was red but it wasn't from the cold, it looked like it was streaked. He must've been doing a lot of crying. Well, tears won't sway me, I decided. I'm here to hear the whole story, not to be conned into being his friend again. What's a friendship without trust? I just couldn't… no matter how much I may miss him… I just couldn't.

"Well, should I just leave you two girls at it?" Bakura offered. I had almost forgotten he was standing next to me.

"Do what you want, Bakura," Ryou said. He sounded tired. I honestly didn't care what Bakura did as long as he wasn't a nuisance. It seemed Ryou wasn't going to get after him for being in my room with me as I'm sure I didn't seem jilted or harassed (even though I was), I probably only looked nervous, which I was. I came down the final four steps into the room and sat down on the couch where Ryou had been standing in front of, between that and the television.

I sat on the side closest to the fireplace and Ryou sat beside me. I foolishly wished for him to tell me the whole thing was a big mistake, that he never did any such thing and then kiss me on the cheek and let that be the end of it. I kept wishing, even though I knew the truth, right up until he said:

"I'm sorry."

I didn't meet his eyes.

"I did some very stupid things," he said hurriedly, trying to look me in the eyes. "Stupid decisions I made that can't be taken back and I'm so sorry, Malik."

"_Why_ would you do something like this?" I asked. "I thought you loved me."

"I do, that's why-"

"This shows just the opposite!"

"No, no," he assured me. "I wanted you to be happy. I knew you loved Marik. And I love you so much… I mean, in a more than friendship way… Even us being best friends, when I got to kiss your cheeks and hug you… it just never filled me up, you know? I just… I wanted more than I knew you could give and so I just thought I should try very hard to get you hooked up with Marik before I could screw up the relationship I already had with you. It was that day after Marik forced his way into your mind again, when you went out of the room? Marik had asked what I wanted from him to even things up and I…

"I said I wanted him to take you out on a date. I told him it was the least he could do and I knew he knew you liked him. He agreed but said that in return I should give him something… as… as he was not 'obligated' to take you out… I asked him what he wanted… He said me." Ryou looked up and guilt was written all over his face.

I'm sure shock and disgust was written all over mine.

"Did you deliver his prize yet?" I asked, my voice low.

"No. No, you're more important."

"Ha. I'll bet Marik was pissed when he realized he wasn't getting a piece of Ryou-ass today, huh," Bakura commented, coming into the living room with a bag of popcorn. I hadn't realized until now he wasn't in the room with us. He sat down between me and Ryou and his popcorn was blocking my view. Honestly, Bakura.

"Bakura, move out of the _way_!" Ryou whined at him.

"I'm perfectly within my rights to be here," he said indignantly. "Besides, I'm the only one that 'Li trusts anymore." He pushed a handful of popcorn into his mouth and then nudged me with an elbow. "Ain't that right, 'Li?"

"I didn't say that at all," I protested.

Bakura shrugged.

Ryou groaned. "Anyway," he said and returned his attention to me. "Malik, I didn't mean to hurt you, I just wanted you to be happy."

"Well how in the world did you think this would end when I found out Marik really _wasn't_ interested in me?"

"I… I don't know, I…" He searched for something to say and I realized I hardly ever saw Ryou this way, unsure of himself and distraught. "I admit, I wasn't thinking too clearly… I saw a chance and took it. I'm so sorry."

"Can't believe you did that…"

"Malik-"

"And what about him?" I motioned to Bakura wildly. "I was _promised_ to him? How can you people do these things without my consent?"

"No, wait," Ryou said, waving his hand in a dismissing manner towards Bakura. "Marik and I were talking and he came up into the room and overheard us. He just said if we were going to do something like that then there was no way he wasn't getting his cut and said if Marik didn't want to be with you then _he_ would gladly be. He said he wouldn't tell you what was going on as long as when it was over, neither of us tried to get with you…"

"Yeah and you breached the agreement," Bakura accused angrily with a mouthful of popcorn. "I saw you in there last night, all on top of Malik! Ra-dammit, Ryou, you cheater!"

Ryou narrowed his eyes. "I don't think this is the _time_, Bakura-"

"Wait a minute," I interrupted. "Just how did you know that Ryou was kissing me?"

"Oh, I peeped in for a bit."

I gaped at him.

"You're so disgusting," Ryou said, admonishing him. "Only a freak would look in on their hikari to see them doing things like that."

"Hey, Marik was looking too."

"Exactly."

Suddenly, as a surprise to all three of us, the door opened and in came my look alike, his golden hair dusted with snow. I craned my neck and saw out of the window it was flurrying. Marik closed the door behind him and took off his coat and scarf.

"Speak of the devil," Bakura said, cramming in my food into his mouth.

Marik turned around when he had finished with the coat rack. "So there you are. You said you were going the bathroom and you were gone for hours. Liar."

"I'm not liar - I did go to the bathroom. Then I went to Taco Bell and then came here to spend time with my lover," he said, putting an arm around me.

I pushed his arm away. "We aren't lovers," I said sourly.

"I think you were loving what I was doing to you upstairs a while ago," he said, smirking.

I blushed.

Ryou looked at Bakura darkly. "What did you do to him?"

"Haha, why do you care? He hates you."

"Stop speaking for me!"

"Ah, so he's crawled out of hiding, has he?" Marik asked, coming into our circle and sitting on the other side of Ryou. I balked at hearing his comment as it was said with the less than syrupy manner he used with me the night before. He looked at me lazily. "I still have that bruise from where you smacked me, Malik."

"Purple's your color, 'Ri."

"Shut up."

All this bickering was really starting to make my head hurt. Ryou turned to Marik and said what I was feeling, "Please, this is hard enough without your arguing. If you could just stay quiet…"

"Did you tell him everything?" Marik asked.

"Yes…" Ryou turned his attention back to me. "Please, forgive us, Malik. I know we were wrong. _We_ know we were wrong. But I swear to Ra I did this for your happiness. I love you, Malik, and if you just want to be friends, I can accept that. I can."

"Y-You said being friends never filled you up though…" I looked away.

"I'd rather be this way than totally empty."

For some reason I could hear Bakura's munching very loud. It was because for the first time since I had come downstairs, it was completely quiet… well, just about anyway. Ryou was looking at me. He brown eyes looked so drained of the actually cheery depth I was used to. I remembered what he said that day we had missed going to our movie and stayed in the park to protect those girls from that hobo with the bad gas.

"_You're so cute, Malik. Why you don't get everything you want is a mystery to me."_

What I want… Why is it that I'm more confused that ever? What I wanted was Marik… At least… that was before all this… I looked over at him, the blank expression on his face, the lavender orbs I always wanted focused on me were now absently watching his own fingers twirl a lock of Ryou's hair absently. I didn't understand what was so wrong with me that he didn't care. He just didn't care. And with this thought, rather than get upset and cry or be depressed, I resigned myself.

"Okay," I said, letting out a large sigh.

Ryou's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Malik! You forgive me?"

I shook my head. "I didn't say that. Right now, I'm just overwhelmed and… and I'd just rather get on with our lives. I want to be your friend, Ryou… but this whole thing is just clouding my head. Just give me time and I'll… I'm sure eventually, I'll…"

He came over to me and kneeled in front of me as Bakura had done a while ago in my room. But instead of taking my hands in his, he put his head in my lap and encircled my waist in his arms. "You don't have to say it," he murmured into my shirt. "I understand and I'll win back your trust. I promise."

I rested my hands on his shoulders and leant back into the couch. "It's been a long day," I whispered, unsure if anyone had heard or not.

Bakura, who was just about finished with his popcorn, was licking the butter from his fingertips. "Well, isn't this all very soap-operaish. You can be righteous as much as you want, Ryou, but you and I both know you'll be bitter at the finish line when I'm the one on top of dear Malik - OW!"

Ryou had kicked him in the shin. He beat me to it.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: -panting- Long enough for one chapter, people? Goddamn, I did this whole thing in a few hours.

-wink-

I feel young again. Well, check out the new Death Note oneshots, if you are familiar with the series or just want to show support. Review to tell me your thoughts or place some bets?


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